[rogerwilko]

Hi all,

I'm just wondering, is there any way of being definite about erasing data from a hard drive when the time comes when a format is needed? From my understanding, the only way I could think of being 100% sure of wiping a hard drive fully, is to format or use a tool like DBAN before either manually, or using a program to write files onto the disk until full, making sure all the data was erased and then written over. BTW, are there any free programs designed to create or at least copy large amounts of useless data onto a hard drive to write over the disk until it's capacity is reached?

Not sure if paranoid or if I actually have a point worth backing up...

Serious question means i'm only going to accept serious answers in which they can back their theory or point up.
inb4 "use disk management"

[TheGrayAviator]

Yes, there is a way to completely destroy the data on your HDD, and the US Defense Force uses it too.

It called BCwipe, or Dban.

[Blackberry ®]

You can buy a box with a large magnet in, that will erase absolutley everything in no time.

[PedroDJ]

Or you can use a Low Level Format tools ;)

[Corso]

Gutmann method is a 35 layer pass, that will really do the trick but takes FOREVER to run. Easier idea would be to run a simple 1 layer pass, then run a Department of Defense 7 layer after that. Then install/put files over that :).

DBan can do all of these off a bootable disk. If this is an external drive or secondary drive... Then you should be able to use 'Eraser' a free program to do the wipes. It's easy and a great tool.

[archangel.dmitry]

DoD has different policies regarding data. If hard drive was used with non-sensitive information, then it gets reformatted with special tools. Once data classified as Secret or higher, all hard drives are destroyed.

There are multiple ways to erase data - WD tool allows to fill hard drives with zeros; TrueCrypt erases data before placing own etc. If you want to avoid erasing headache in the future, encrypt your information with double container and a good key. After you are done using it, just delete it.