1. If Windows operating system is still on the drive, Norton Utilities
filewipe or diskwipe will overwrite the drive to DOD specifications with
multiple and different overwrites. Unfortunately, unlike the old DOS and
Win 3x versions which would run from a boot disk or DOS prompt, my Win9X
version of Norton Utilities will only work while Windows is still active.
2. For all but NSA decrypters who would do magnetic magic to see what is
under a re-write of the disk media, one can do a "simple" format of the
drive with the following command from a "DOS" prompt but with the added
switch which overwrites the drive with blank spaces, and has the added
benefit that it is free with Windows. (In the old days, before modern IDE
drives, one could low level format the drive. See the link below for the
dangers of that and other options.)
FORMAT C: /U or FORMAT C: /U/S
/U parameter performs an UNCONDITIONAL format, which DESTROYS every byte of
data on a disk by overwriting it
with with blank spaces
/U/S adds the System Files on completion
(Taken from the following link)
http://www.powerload.fsnet.co.uk/harddisk.htm
Dave Ralph
-----------------------------------------------
At 01:29 PM 4/25/02 -0400, you wrote:
>If you're giving it to the CIA, FBI, Interpol, DEA, DOD, or NSA, you would
>want to have the drive professionally erased. If none of the above, and
>the drive is not going to a business competitor or any of the above, you
>will probably be safe with a reformat. If you are paranoid, go to
>www.WD.com, which is Western Digital's web site. There you can download
>their free DOS program that will write zeroes to everything on the
>drive. You can also download a freebie from www.pcmag.com/utilities
>called Shred. It can shred files to Dept of Defense standards.
>
> >I want to give away one of my computers but it has some sensitive data
> on it. To make sure it cannot be recovered, is it enough to format the
> hard drives or do I need to use some sort of disk eraser program?
> >
> >Marilyn
> >
> > Do you want to signoff PCBUILD or just change to
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> >
>
>
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David E. Ralph
Chemung County Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc.
215 E. Church St., Ste 301
Elmira, NY 14901
VOX 607-734-1647
FAX 607-734-1018
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