Reply to: Getting rid of old latop ... need to remove all data

[voodooflux]

IIRC (it's a long time since I used it), you downloaded an exe and ran it, which then created a boot disk for you. I'll have a look when I get a free 10 mins

That sounds about right.

[DiscoStu]

DBAN downloaded at 1.6mb so won't fit on a 3.5" floppy, which is the only access point for this laptop. It's old (only has an 18Gb HD!) so I might just trash the whole thing.

IIRC (it's a long time since I used it), you downloaded an exe and ran it, which then created a boot disk for you. I'll have a look when I get a free 10 mins

[b0redom]

So what if it doesn't have USB etc? Just pull out the disk and connect it up to another machine. Although for an 18GB drive I'd prolly just stick a screwdriver through it.

[NickFitz]

This business of data recovery from an erased disk is actually much harder than the stories would lead you to believe. As a general rule, overwriting the disk will do the job unless somebody is willing to invest a few thousand quid in an intensive recovery operation. Law enforcement organisations may be willing to do that for an important prosecution, but if all you're concerned about is making sure people can't read your credit card number or other personal information from an old file, then just wipe the disk.

All the paranoia might be appropriate if you're, say, a law firm that has to be able to legally testify that you protected client information. For normal people, a re-format is probably all you need.

If you want to be certain, getting DBAN on there from a multi-floppy zip, as suggested by d000hg, sounds like a simple approach, given the lack of interfaces on said machine. (Alternatively, you could easily write a program to zero everything out, if you're into systems-level programming - use the BIOS routines for low-level disk sector access.)

Criminals have better and/or easier ways of getting that kind of information than using forensic-lab-scale techniques on the disk of a laptop bought from eBay or a car boot sale. In the same way that they'll break into the house without a burglar alarm, rather than learn how to disable the alarm on the house next door, so they will get stuff from the disk that has been sold as-is, rather than using a file recovery utility on the disk that was formatted.

People need to gain some sense of perspective about this stuff

[chris79]

Dban

+1

[Churchill]

You could format a disk a billion times and it wouldnt touch the data!

Just search for freeware drive eraser apps, sure theres tons out there.

If you know the manufacturer of the hard-disk, download their utilities, you'll probably find a low-level format utility in there.

Another way would be to delete all the files you don't want and use Defrag to move the remaining data/files over the top of the original files.

Just a suggestion.

[Durbs]

Re format the hard drive a couple of times.

You could format a disk a billion times and it wouldnt touch the data!

Just search for freeware drive eraser apps, sure theres tons out there.

[expat]

So zip it onto two floppies, or burn to CD.

OP:

Laptop has no internet access or CD drive or USB drivers for external drives.

[d000hg]

DBAN downloaded at 1.6mb so won't fit on a 3.5" floppy, which is the only access point for this laptop. It's old (only has an 18Gb HD!) so I might just trash the whole thing.

So zip it onto two floppies, or burn to CD.

[pmeswani]

DBAN downloaded at 1.6mb so won't fit on a 3.5" floppy, which is the only access point for this laptop. It's old (only has an 18Gb HD!) so I might just trash the whole thing.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

Run DD and wipe the hard drive clean with some zeros.

[ChimpMaster]

Use DBAN and set it to overwrite several times. It's as close as you'll get to total data destruction without taking the drive out and setting an angle grinder on it.

DBAN downloaded at 1.6mb so won't fit on a 3.5" floppy, which is the only access point for this laptop. It's old (only has an 18Gb HD!) so I might just trash the whole thing.

[BoredBloke]

Why not buy a cheap small 80gb drive for the laptop and use your existing drive as a USB backup drive. You can get a cheap drive for about £30ish

[voodooflux]

Use DBAN and set it to overwrite several times. It's as close as you'll get to total data destruction without taking the drive out and setting an angle grinder on it.

WHS

[DiscoStu]

Use DBAN and set it to overwrite several times. It's as close as you'll get to total data destruction without taking the drive out and setting an angle grinder on it.

[Board Game Geek]

Short of destroying the hard drive, is there any other way for me to make sure that the data is wiped off?

They won't wipe the hard drive, but apparently if you send it to these people, it is almost guaranteed to be lost and never touched by a human ever again.