Recommended utility for wiping drives?

Discussion in 'Misc Discussion' started by zdevilinside, Aug 3, 2017.

  1. zdevilinside

    zdevilinside Active Member

    I had a client pass away. They have multiple computers that are to be donated to a local school. Prior to giving the computers to the school, we need to securely erase the data so it cannot be recovered. I used to have a tool for it but I haven't used it in ages and cannot remember its name. (I usually tell the people to keep the drive or drill holes into the drive itself rendering it unrecoverable.)

    What tools can you recommend for this task? It is a "bootable" format or ISO? I can use RUFUS to make a bootable USB drive if it is in ISO form.
     
  2. Trouba

    Trouba Administrator Staff Member

    Active@ Boot Disk has an app on there, KillDisk, which can secure wipe drives. I think it's pretty good but you may want to check the specs to see if it's adequate for your purposes: http://www.livecd.com/downloads/killdisk.pdf
     
  3. bphlpt

    bphlpt A lowly staff member Staff Member

    I'm sure that Glenn, Trouba, or Freezer will have more appropriate suggestions, but if you can remove the drives to temporarily install them into another computer, you could use something as simple and easily accessible as CCleaner. It has options to make as many as 35 passes to securely wipe the drive.

    EDIT: I see Trouba has already replied. LOL :)
     
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  4. The Freezer

    The Freezer Just this guy, you know Staff Member

    Actually, I just used one today that was very helpful in recovering a malfunctioning drive: HDDGuru's HDD Low Level Format Tool. It will write all zeroes to EVERY sector of the unit - NOT just of one Partition (no data on the drive will be recoverable). It works from Windows and not only will it work with any IDE / SATA internal drive, it will also work with any external USB/Firewire drive. I successfully used it from a Windows 8.1 laptop on a 750GB SATA drive in a USB 3.0 drive enclosure. ;)

    Useful to me because in doing this, it actually triggers one of the hidden internal routines of the HDD's own microprocessor system so that it does its own testing of sectors (completely unknown to the Operating System); any it finds bad or even weak, it replaces from its stock of spare known-good sectors. Basically returning the drive to its factory default state and will then need partitioned and formatted from Windows (from which data can be recovered if a zero-fill utility hadn't been used). So a zero-fill does two things - it overwrites ALL old data, and it "repairs" every part of the HDD. In that way it is better than what a Windows Full Format or CHKDSK can do (either of which merely bookmarks in the MBR/GPT where any bad sectors found).

    Here's a useful article: How to Low Level Format (Or Zero-Fill) Your Hard Disk
     
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  5. Trouba

    Trouba Administrator Staff Member

    Yes, that is a good one, too. When I still included PE's with my automated builds that app was one of my ppAppsLive :) My version is 4.12, I see it's up to 4.40 now.
     
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  6. bphlpt

    bphlpt A lowly staff member Staff Member

    Hey T, any chance of getting a ppApp of the non speed limited version of v4.40? I've found torrents of versions including keygens, such as this one, but I'd much rather use an "official" one from you. :)
     
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  7. Glenn

    Glenn Administrator Staff Member

    hmmmm, LastOS does warez requests in the public discussion section now too - things sure have changed :D
     
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  8. Trouba

    Trouba Administrator Staff Member

    Glenn is such a corrupting influence... :D
     
  9. The Freezer

    The Freezer Just this guy, you know Staff Member

    Actually, the 50MB/s speed limit was very generous (for me). I never was able to attain anything higher than 32MB/s. But that could be because of the drive's 5200 RPM and though in a USB 3.0 drive enclosure it was connected to one of the laptop's USB 2.0 ports (the 3.0 port was in use for another).
     
  10. Glenn

    Glenn Administrator Staff Member

    USB 3 External can get speeds of 98MB/s (5400rpm), Internal can get well over 230MB/s (7200rpm), so depending on where your using it, the extra speed is worth having.
     
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  11. The Freezer

    The Freezer Just this guy, you know Staff Member

    Good to know. As it is, it took a little over 6 hours for 750GB; but at least it wasn't tying up the PC with that sole task as it would've been with one of the bootable alternatives.
     
  12. The Freezer

    The Freezer Just this guy, you know Staff Member

    Minitool Partition Wizard has a Wipe utility with different methods including zero-fill.
     
  13. Trouba

    Trouba Administrator Staff Member

    For a drive not utilized by the OS or any other task, I don't think it would tax the rest of the system too heavily. It couldn't be very CPU-intensive?

    When SSD's first started to take off, people were talking about utilities that would "reset" the memory cells, making the drive effectively "new" again. Recently, I have not heard anything about that idea anymore. Wonder where that stands?
     
  14. pacav69

    pacav69 Live long and prosper Staff Member

  15. Glenn

    Glenn Administrator Staff Member

    zdevil is a world traveler and he has been with LastOS.org since the day it opened. Unlike ObscureBean/Neffy, I know this guy is trustworthy and eventually will get back to us (for sure). Lets just wait and see what reason he has for making a request without offering any thanks... then again doesn't everyone do that now - which is why modding has turned to payware instead of something people do because they share improvements to help others save time or advance their knowledge.

    I am currently working on a Mega Games Collection - chances are it will have 1001 games - The good thing about this pack over others is I have taken the time to get icons/descriptions, I have also made sure the work in Windows 10 (and they have worked in Win XP to 8 before), so this collection should be able to go on any PC (excluding Linux/Unix based ones but even then some will work still). I know you guys may not be interested in the pack, but that is why I haven't been doing much else here at LastOS - that and the fact Windows 10 requires more modding than even I can supply to get it to be good :D
     
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  16. zdevilinside

    zdevilinside Active Member

    Sorry, been dealing with my Dad's passing. :( He passed away while undergoing dialysis. My son was with him. His BP went to 0 and he stopped breathing. My Dad had a DNI or DNR so all my son could do was watch and cry.

    The computer in question was a friend of ours. She was 92 when she passed (7/31/17). We adopted her dogs despite what our landlady wanted.
     
  17. Trouba

    Trouba Administrator Staff Member

    Cleaned up the thread a bit with our light-hearted (but possibly insensitive) banter. I'm sorry to hear about your profound losses and I am certain all here offer you our heartfelt condolences and thoughts of support.
     
  18. zdevilinside

    zdevilinside Active Member

    Thank you! I appreciate it. I don't mind the banter; I just was too busy doing other things to get back on here and reply to anything.
     
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