hard drive erasers

**CHEVYMAN646** · 06-28-2008, 07:22 PM

need some suggestions on a good hard drive cleaner/eraser. i know the basics like cookies, temp file, etc. what i'm looking for is something that can remove all traces of web pages, email etc.. from my pc. i've seen several, and i also priced a replacement hard drive. it really isn't that much more expensive to just replace the hd. my second question is if i replace the hd, will that take care of the web pages, emails, documents, personal data, etc. when it comes to computers "IM SOFA KING WE TODD AD". help please!

**g0dsend** · 06-28-2008, 08:46 PM

Only safe way is to destory the hard drive. But try this program, Secure Data Wiper

**DSM4Life** · 06-28-2008, 08:53 PM

Are you trying to just hide your tracks or completely/permanently remove that data ?

To hide your tracks, try a free program called Ccleaner (http://www.ccleaner .com/ [withoutspace])

Its free and updated on a regular basis. Not only will it hide all your porn, i mean tracks but it also has a built in registry cleaner and other nice features. I been using the program for years and highly recommend it.

If you want a program that will permanently delete data, i am guessing for legal problems you are SOL. There is no such thing. You would have to physically destroy the drive in order for the data to be no longer. Anything deleted on a harddrive remains on the harddrive for the life of it and anyone who tells you differently doesn't know what they are talking about.

**spywizard** · 06-28-2008, 09:31 PM

degause an MRI would do it..

try Killdisk,, but use the paid version..

**rodgerj** · 06-28-2008, 09:39 PM

Download hirens 9.5. It has a load of good tools on it including that shit. DSM is right but I can make it near freaking impossible though. Look at stuff like drive encryption if you want to keep your shit locked down. Run your machine off a live CD and use someone else's unsecured wireless. lol. If it's just your other half use a different profile.... R U actually using Windows?

**SmittyTheOX** · 06-28-2008, 10:33 PM

Been here mate.

CyberScrub Privacy. This program has a lot of different deleting/cleaning options including military grade and a 32pass that makes it even near impossible for hardware based retrieval.

If you cant find the software, PM me and ill give you a link.

**Nicotine** · 06-29-2008, 12:10 PM

you can get a 0 fill program.

all data can be destroyed if the physical location on the platters gets written to 7 times.

there are programs that fill all sectors with 0s, then repeats the process 7 times.

also, a low level format can get rid of it. but that CAN sometimes be recovered...

your best bet, get a new drive, reinstall windows.

then

open your old hdd up. and scratch all the platters and destroy them totally... no chance for recovery then. once dust and dirt hit the platters, it's toast....scratching and destroying them is the only SURE fire way.

**rodgerj** · 06-29-2008, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by Nicotine

you can get a 0 fill program.

all data can be destroyed if the physical location on the platters gets written to 7 times.

there are programs that fill all sectors with 0s, then repeats the process 7 times.

also, a low level format can get rid of it. but that CAN sometimes be recovered...

your best bet, get a new drive, reinstall windows.

then

open your old hdd up. and scratch all the platters and destroy them totally... no chance for recovery then. once dust and dirt hit the platters, it's toast....scratching and destroying them is the only SURE fire way.

Yep... That hirens boot cd I recommended has all the best file deletion utilities and low level format applications for most HD vendors. I used to work for the NHS in the UK and they would accept nothing less then physical destruction of the disk. It's the only way to be sure.

**CHEVYMAN646** · 06-29-2008, 01:04 PM

thanks for the info guys. one more question. if my operating system came installed on my computer when i bought it several years ago, is there a way to save it to add to the new drive? what i mean is i don't think i have the install disk. guess i could just buy another one if needed. i do think i made a set of recovery disks when i first got it though, like 7 of them. would that be th o.s. or just b.s. stuff i don't really need. told you i was computer technology challenged.

**DSM4Life** · 06-29-2008, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by CHEVYMAN646

thanks for the info guys. one more question. if my operating system came installed on my computer when i bought it several years ago, is there a way to save it to add to the new drive? what i mean is i don't think i have the install disk. guess i could just buy another one if needed. i do think i made a set of recovery disks when i first got it though, like 7 of them. would that be th o.s. or just b.s. stuff i don't really need. told you i was computer technology challenged.

Most likely your drive is partitioned into two drives. You will have your main c:\ drive but if you look in file explorer (right click start button/click explore) you will see another drive (a lot of the times d:\). Your windows CD should be on that drive mostly in .cad files.

If you ask me , i would personally get a clean copy of windows. If you reinstall from that PC to another you get all that extra junk software that your PC came with when you first bought it.

**Bryan2** · 06-29-2008, 08:26 PM

Use a free program called DBAN
it rewrites 7 times over so unless your really beiing looked at no one will spend the money to try and get the info off your computer.

But yeah only sure fire way it to take it out and put a screwdriver through the platters.

your recovery discs will not work with any other computer unless it the same exact model.

different hardware

you can find an os disc on the internet if you know where to look...

**CHEVYMAN646** · 06-29-2008, 10:01 PM

so if i run the dban or something similar it clears the drive and the recovery disks will be able to reload the operating system, or is that not what is on the recovery disks. i found them and there are seven cds i made when i first got the computer because it prompted me to. i think that would be satisfactory. will it also help the computer run like it did when it was new?

**rodgerj** · 06-29-2008, 11:26 PM

Originally Posted by CHEVYMAN646

thanks for the info guys. one more question. if my operating system came installed on my computer when i bought it several years ago, is there a way to save it to add to the new drive? what i mean is i don't think i have the install disk. guess i could just buy another one if needed. i do think i made a set of recovery disks when i first got it though, like 7 of them. would that be th o.s. or just b.s. stuff i don't really need. told you i was computer technology challenged.

Several options.... personally I would go with a clean install if you can. Just save all your shit first. Or you could use one of the imaging software tools on that Hiren's BootCD like Ghost, Acronis, Paragon etc to make an image you could restore to the new drive. Needs to be all the same hardware though. You can do a ghost image and make a VM out of but go with the simple option.... re-install. I bet you don't have the media though right? Amoung your 7 disks the first one will be bootable so should be easy. just follow the instructions.

**Odpierdol_sie!** · 06-30-2008, 02:20 PM

Nothing less than 35 overwrites will do for me.
Do you know about torrent downloads? i had a great download of steganos security suite 2007.

**0tolerance** · 07-01-2008, 03:52 AM

i agree with odpierdol,
7 erases are useless now, the FBI can pick up data that has been erased and written over 7 times.. they are advancing really well... which is bad for us in a sense..
id say nothing less than 35 erases..

i have aprogram called eraser... you can tell it how many times you want to erase something...

If you have some serious shit you want to hide.. get a whole knew hard drive, make sure the other hard drive will never ever be found again.. insinerate it if you can.

**CHEVYMAN646** · 07-01-2008, 08:06 AM

i appreciate the knowledge guys. i went with the dban download and am not sure if i have done it correctly. it ran fine but it shows a samsung drive, and two partition drives. should i clean all three? at the moment only the samsung drive is being wiped 35 times. should i go back and clear the partitions (wtf is a partition) when it is done? i ran the software but did not choose the atounuke mode. not sure if i should have. school me some please.

**teufelhundenjwa** · 07-01-2008, 08:46 AM

Have you ever heard of Boot-And-Nuke?
http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Great resource!!!

**shrpskn** · 07-01-2008, 10:53 AM

Sorry for the hijack, but seeing the discussion is hard drive erasers:

What's your guys take on the program "Evidence Eliminator?"

Is it worth the buy? Does it really defeat forensics if used properly?

Thanks,

**Odpierdol_sie!** · 07-01-2008, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by CHEVYMAN646

i appreciate the knowledge guys. i went with the dban download and am not sure if i have done it correctly. it ran fine but it shows a samsung drive, and two partition drives. should i clean all three? at the moment only the samsung drive is being wiped 35 times. should i go back and clear the partitions (wtf is a partition) when it is done? i ran the software but did not choose the atounuke mode. not sure if i should have. school me some please.

Anything that has a drive on it can hold data, to be safe clean them.
I clean everything, not so long ago i ran a gutman on all my reused DVD RW.

Think of a partition on a drive like a partition wall in a house. Its basically a wall that on one side has ur Windows xp operating system and all ur windows stuff, then on the other might be a blank space or boot partition or a totally different operating system like Linux or Mac OSX.

Dont worry about it all too much. Thing is with data erasers, they will only clean the free space on ur drives. like if you have files etc, you could clean them but you woudl be left with a blank space.
If you have deleted something then your cleaner can erase ur deleted data etc so unless you do it on purpose ur cleaner wont delete all ur files n will only serve to overwrite ur free space that MAY contain something that was deleted.

All this thing does is, say for instance you delete something with ur normal wase bin etc, the code that is used to represent the data, the parity digit will be changed to a D for instance to say its been deleted. This is where it can be recovered very easy with simple software. so the feds can do it piss easy. With a cleaner what it does is totally jumble up the code, making it harder.
If you were to do a simple over write and use just once pass (one overwrite) than it could be recovered with a little more effort.

The DoD standard of data encruption was rated at 3 passes and the NSA was 7 passes. 7 Passes is where they say it is impossible to read the code and get any sense out of it.... So the standard above that, the one i use, is called a Gutman. It carries out 35 passes in total. you can see the more you do the harder it is to restore. But also the more passes you use the longer it will take. On a 30Gb hard drive dont be shocked if it can take up to 10 days to do a Gutman. It all depends on how fast ur processor is too.

With the programe i use has an internet trace destructor which can be activated by hitting one button (for when ur door gets kicked in).... it uses the same principal as the above so if used correctly, its IMPOSSIBLE to restore the surfed data.

**Odpierdol_sie!** · 07-01-2008, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by shrpskn

Sorry for the hijack, but seeing the discussion is hard drive erasers:

What's your guys take on the program "Evidence Eliminator?"

Is it worth the buy? Does it really defeat forensics if used properly?

Thanks,

If you use the right programe that does a deep clean then yeah it will beat forensics.
Forensics rely on coding and how it has been deleted. As the mojority of people delete data with a windows style recycle bin, its piss easy to restore.....

My guess is, that if you had carried out a gutman on everything, and the day after the Five oh came round to have a peek, they would look over it once or twice, then decide its clean.

Im sure that one day they will be able to restore the destroyed data but for now it seems not...... Since overall security is much bigger than any police authority etc, Data encryption and deletion is always going to he bead and shoulders above the restoring of deleted data.

Having said all this never assume anything and its better to be safe than sorry.

**PhalacY** · 07-01-2008, 05:18 PM

A really strong magnet works great!!

**Kale** · 07-01-2008, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by PhalacY

A really strong magnet works great!!

Where to get one though, I have a 750G hard drive that is fvcked. I recovered all the data off it (porn) but I need to destroy the drive before I can claim a new one under warranty

**0tolerance** · 07-01-2008, 06:41 PM

if you REAAALLY want to **** your hard drive, buy a deguasing coil...
anything in the computer.. or what evers near it will be ROOTED.

**PhalacY** · 07-02-2008, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by Kale

Where to get one though, I have a 750G hard drive that is fvcked. I recovered all the data off it (porn) but I need to destroy the drive before I can claim a new one under warranty

Speaker magnet...you can actually f*** one up real good by vacuuming by it a few times..thats how i fried mine.

**Odpierdol_sie!** · 07-02-2008, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by PhalacY

Speaker magnet...you can actually f*** one up real good by vacuuming by it a few times..thats how i fried mine.

I wouldnt bother with a speaker magnet, they are not powerfull enough to be sure that you have destroyed all the data securely. If you want to do so with a magnet, look up where to get neodymium magnet. These puppies are shit loads stronger than anything you will ever see anywhere else. You can get them up to a a magnetic strength of 1000lbs+. Id say to be sure with erasing data, use something that you know you will be able to seperate from the drive after so my guess is 1000lbs or more is just out of the question...... id say go with 50lbs - 100lbs or so, this im sure would be more than enough to fully penetrate the casing and destroy the data contained inside.

**Odpierdol_sie!** · 07-02-2008, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by Kale

Where to get one though, I have a 750G hard drive that is fvcked. I recovered all the data off it (porn) but I need to destroy the drive before I can claim a new one under warranty

http://www.emovendo.net/?gclid=CNKLx...FQVfFQodwF17tA

**kaju** · 09-02-2008, 02:59 PM

I use webroot windows washer it does a pretty good job. but you still have other issues you will need to look into. to much to go into here. you can take out the hard drive and use the magnet. then you will have other problems. but if you want to destroy the hard drive you have many options there and you will be safe. Better safe than sorry.

**X1nn3R** · 09-02-2008, 06:50 PM

just get the new hard drive and use thermite to clean up your old one

**kaju** · 09-03-2008, 09:46 AM

I hate to hijack this thread but it is on the subject. can anyone recomend a cd/dvd, photo recovery program that is not too terribly expensive. there has been times I deleated photoes I wish I had not deleated.

**S.P.G** · 09-18-2008, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by SmittyTheOX

Been here mate.

CyberScrub Privacy. This program has a lot of different deleting/cleaning options including military grade and a 32pass that makes it even near impossible for hardware based retrieval.

If you cant find the software, PM me and ill give you a link.

this is what i use, i downloaded it from a torrent full with the patches, then erased the tracks of me downloading it with with it lol

i bet the feds can get back gutman 35passes wipe.

**sam1969** · 10-08-2008, 05:25 PM

i use: evidence eliminator

it then check with a data recovrery to see what left on youre HD.

**bladerunner9** · 12-15-2008, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by SmittyTheOX

Been here mate.

CyberScrub Privacy. This program has a lot of different deleting/cleaning options including military grade and a 32pass that makes it even near impossible for hardware based retrieval.

If you cant find the software, PM me and ill give you a link.

Shit man i am reading this section for the first time. I have this software...LOL

**IM708** · 12-16-2008, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by DSM4Life

If you want a program that will permanently delete data, i am guessing for legal problems you are SOL. There is no such thing. You would have to physically destroy the drive in order for the data to be no longer. Anything deleted on a harddrive remains on the harddrive for the life of it and anyone who tells you differently doesn't know what they are talking about.

I beleive thats half true (I know I'm replying to a comment made several months ago), yes it's true it's still there even if you 'delete' it but if you over write it with a new peice of data then it will be gone permanantly.