Cleaning Harddrive?

[s3nate]

Hi,
I just stumbled across some information that I never really knew of, I found out that when you just do Shift+Del that all it really does is change the name of the file but isnt really deleted but the name is changed so the OS cant find it, now after finding that out it hit me that I used that way to delete some important information that I dont want people to get a hold of, this computer isnt mine right now and I had some files that i guess wasnt smartly deleted, altho after find out i started to use norton's wipe info to delete stuff, but I still am not too sure if thats a smart way to do it. So i searched the net for more things that can wipe info and files. Now i came across a website that says it deletes the information on the hardrive completley www.killdisk.com it says is microsoft certified, but does it really work? (the trial Version). So im just asking if wiping my personal files with norton will work for now? and when i return the computer i can run kill disk to make sure everything that is personal on the computer will be erased 100% so there is no chance at all to recover them. If you guys know of any other progs that i would be able to use please tell me because i highly doubt that killdisk will work, and hopefully the prog will be free? like some kind of freeware of some sort, because i dont really have any money to purchase things.

Thanks
-S3nate

[yuvraj]

Well buddy i you try out shredder or also named as file shredder. What i does is overwrites file many times so that no recovery software can recovery it. Shredder works for me.

[s3nate]

Well, basically what I am saying is that i aready deleted personal information on my computer and i want any left overs to be 100% erased, And as i said, this computer isnt mine...and i will in the near future have to return it, and i dont want it to be returned with things that are on there that contains personal information of me, so i was trying to use killdisk just now and im having trouble with it, its not loading so right now im looking to see if anyone out there knows how i can 100% clean my hardrive, like oever writing it over and over, i heard of a way called guntmann or something like that or this other one, if anyone know where i can get something as strong as that to help clean my hardrive i would really appreciate it, thanks. -S3nate

[Irongeek]

I use Eraser ( http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ ) for such purposes.

[therenegade]

http://www.freewarehome.com/System_U...anently_t.html
The Eraser worked for a friend of mine...I'm not really sure if we should be helping you though...if you've got someone else's HD and want to delete YOUR personal info off it,I'm betting that your 'personal' info isnt too good?I might crank it up a notch and even suggest that it could be...illegal?

[Zonewalker]

s3nate - the gutman paper is fairly well known - I'm sure theres a link to it on the Eraser website (see Irongeeks post above) - if not a copy of it used to be included in Erasers help file.

Myself I also user eraser, its free, open source and is better than most IMHO.

As for it not being s3nates PC.... renegade... I think we may be jumping the gun a little suggesting what he's doing is illegal.... he says he has to give it back... implying the person who actually owns the comp knows s3nate has it. I've been in this situation before too... though I saved all my stuff to a flash drive in the first place - this could be a perfectly legitimate request (albeit embarassing if s3nate has been surfing for 'material' etc).

s3nate one word of warning though... just make sure you don't wipe the whole drive... you'll have to reinstall stuff if you do

Z

[moxnix]

How detailed you need to be in wiping the disk is directly related to who may be looking for it and why. If its the goverment and they will be looking for some detail or other, than your only hope would be to physically destroy the HD and put anouther in.
If it is a private owner and he has no reason to really look for any thing, normal deletion would be all right ( most people either don't know how to retrieve deleted files or have no reason to go the the trouble).
If you expect some one would want to retrieve your deleted files then using the Eraser or PGP Free Space Cleaner will cover 90% of any attempts to recover any thing. The remaining 10% being really knowledgable forinsic professionals that perhaps number in the 1-5 % of the professioals out there.

You are the only one who can say what value the deleted files have and only you can judge who might be after the same data.

Edit> Spybot S&D also has a file shredder function that comes with it, and it is free.

[tiDaLfAze23]

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=250632

AO Search Function isn't a bad place to start looking.....

[yuvraj]

Yeah try out shareware.com They have pretty good programs for trial.

Cheers

[ss2chef]

Originally posted here by Irongeek
I use Eraser ( http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ ) for such purposes.

Yea yea, Eraser has done a great job for us in the past!!

Give her a try..