Wez Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Hey All, Does anyone know of any decent freeware tools that ensure any files that have been deleted cannot be recovered? I want to run it on my company laptop as I have removed all my personal documents, house moving info and personal business etc I have already defragged both drives after the delete but was wondering what else can be done. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPRALOOPY Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 hammer through the hdd ? As data CAN be restored even after a format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Hey All, Does anyone know of any decent freeware tools that ensure any files that have been deleted cannot be recovered? I want to run it on my company laptop as I have removed all my personal documents, house moving info and personal business etc I have already defragged both drives after the delete but was wondering what else can be done. Thanks Pedo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaz1 Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Pedo! bit strong though:d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted June 20, 2006 Author Share Posted June 20, 2006 Pedo! Nice mate thanks I was wondering what sort of comments i would get after posting this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesmark Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Someones been looking at porn then as thats the only reason why you woudl want to erase files, or ................ no wait..................... you been watching horses doing a women But agreed you can always get back all files evebn after a hard format, many a person has been done even after a format Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted June 20, 2006 Author Share Posted June 20, 2006 I have used recovering programs myself, just wanted to get my personal business data off, just a precaution, I may be over reacting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MONKEYmark Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 cant u use a goverment eraser tool.they supposedto wipe it like u want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Thermite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ark Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Someones been looking at porn then as thats the only reason why you woudl want to erase files, or ................ no wait..................... you been watching horses doing a women But agreed you can always get back all files evebn after a hard format, many a person has been done even after a format Nah - a hard format just clears the file allocation table. By reading directly from the disc surface, supposedly deleted files can be recovered. Even back in the good old days of DOS, the OS came with undelete and unformat for doing exactly this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Nah - a hard format just clears the file allocation table. By reading directly from the disc surface, supposedly deleted files can be recovered. Even back in the good old days of DOS, the OS came with undelete and unformat for doing exactly this. There wasn't an unformat with the OS, and undelete was removed after version 6 or something. There were third party unformat tools. A quick format just clears the FAT but a normal format goes over every sector, or it did in the good old days anyway which is why formatting anything over a few gigs took an age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ I've used this. Seems to be very good and well designed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt H Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Nice mate thanks I was wondering what sort of comments i would get after posting this. Sorry mate, coudlnt resist! your post does lend itself tho! Seriously tho, i thought the only way to ensure that everything is deleted is to save is to make sure your whole hard drive is over written with other information. When you delete somehting i believe that it isnt actually deleted until something else requires the space that it uses (to speed things up etc during deletes) I i were you i would delete the entire hard drive then fill it to the brim with stuff like games etc that take up aot of space to ensure that everything that was there is overwritten? Whats everybody else take on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 The Gadget Show did a feature on this a while back: http://gadgetshow.five.tv/jsp/5gsmain.jsp?lnk=401&featureid=55&pageid=118&show=s4e4§ion=Features They did mention a program but IIFC cost loads, but cant remeber it - doh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 DBAN (Darik's boot and nuke) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted June 21, 2006 Author Share Posted June 21, 2006 A quick format just clears the FAT but a normal format goes over every sector, or it did in the good old days anyway which is why formatting anything over a few gigs took an age. There was quickformat which kills the FAT and the /U unconditional format which could not be recovered. I tried the eraser app listed earlier, seems pretty good. What the hell was the Thermite all about, i got loads of websites on some dodgy chemical or something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKIVDreamer Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 It all depends on how deleted you want the data. If you just want to make sure that the next user of the machine can't run a readily available utility to recover your data then an OS format, followed by a reinstall of OS, followed by a format should be enough. If you're fairly determined (paranoid), after reinstalling the OS, fill the disk up with random files (you can figure out how you want to do this!) and then re-format. If you don't work for MI5 and need to make sure that your above average computer enthusiast can't get it back, then a secure eraser like the one in the links posted previously should be fine. If however you work for MI5, the best way is to run multiple degausses to ensure that each magnetic domain on the disk is flipped back and forth as much as possible, before destroying the HDD - hammer through the platters will usually do the trick! I'm guessing that your IT dept. might be a little upset if you do that though Forensic labs are very good at recovering formatted / erased HDDs. If necessary they can piece broken fragments of HDD platters together and hook it up to an SPM/MTM. They'd have to be *really* interested in your data though How do I know all this? I have a colleague whos good friend is a forensic scientist specialising in data recovery techniques. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leelbuk Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 File Shredders! There are a few freeware ones on the net. Instead of just removing the reference to the file from the File Allocation Table they write random garbage data to the areas of the disc that where originally occupied by the file you intend to delete. Most of them are just drag and drop. I.e. Drag the file/folder you want permanently deleted to the program and they are gone. If anyone tries to recover the file(s) they will just recover random garbage data! eg. http://www.handybits.com/shredder.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannhauser Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 What the hell was the Thermite all about, i got loads of websites on some dodgy chemical or something The 'thermite reaction' is where you mix iron oxide with aluminium and light the mixture with, say, a magnesium ribbon fuse. The resulting chemical reaction is incredibly exothermic and produces molten iron. Great fun to watch, even better to do. So, unless I misunderstood some IT type joke, to get rid of the information, thermite your hard drive, which will melt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 There was quickformat which kills the FAT and the /U unconditional format which could not be recovered. Looks like you're correct. I never had bothered to look it up all those years ago and just drew assumptions based on the behaviour I wonder WTF format was doing whilst going over all those sectors on a regular (not /q and not /u) format. IIRC you couldn't quick-format a newly created partition, only a pre-existing FAT partition. It must've just been checking them. Thermite.. I sold some of that to a guy in school for £10. Even now I'm not sure if I made the rust properly. Anyway, he got a jar of aluminium filings, magnesium ribbon stolen from Chemistry class, and some muddy brown shit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted June 21, 2006 Author Share Posted June 21, 2006 Thanks for the info guys, I used the eraser app and happy with that. My boss was suspended for not following a procedure but its all been sorted now and I gave him his phone, laptop and pass etc back today, what a crappy week, new management flexing there muscles over our department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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