disk shredder

[bibble]

I have a hard disk to wipe - suggestions of software to use. free if poss

[Wombat]

http://www.linux-kurser.dk/secure_harddisk_eraser.html

[Liquid Snake]

<A HREF="http://dban.sourceforge.net/">DBAN</A> is another one.

[Nowhere]

And if you want to use the computer normally while wiping data (I know I would ): Eraser

[The PIT]

Grinding Wheel.

[UtwigMU]

Autoclave (open source) for entire drive wiping - runs from floppy or bootable CD-ROM - 3-stage wipe takes 2 days or so.

There's a free tool from systeminternals.com for one file or free space wiping.

[Ribbit]

Originally posted by The PIT
Grinding Wheel.

Remove hard disk platters, install them in said grinding wheel, and grind something with them (perhaps the rest of the drive).

[Jammrock]

If you have a copy of Ghost Corporate 8 where you're at, it has a full features data shredder called GDISK. It has a US government grade drive wiping tool ... and does all the standard FDISK style of functions as well.

Jammrock

[Paddy]

so... can a low level format be recovered?

[Dilitante1]

yes Paddy, it can in certain situations with good software

[Paddy]

How? I thought that a low level format zero'd every sector on the disk. I don't understand how this could be undone...

[Technoid]

Originally posted by Paddy
How? I thought that a low level format zero'd every sector on the disk. I don't understand how this could be undone...

Well didnt you know that data must be written over 7 times to be "gone"?? :P

Actually there are 2 sides of this tale:

One camp says that the data must be written over atleast 7 times.

The other says that one time is suficcient.

a notorius high amount of people in the first camp has ties to the military...

The other camp has a lot of representants from firms that works with recovering data...

Just for reference:
The number 7 is regarded as a "lucky" "magic" etc etc number in many cultures

[Wombat]

And neither one of those is good enough. I've talked at length with a guy who writes data recovery/destruction software for a living. You have to work really low level to take care of data. Pushing beyond the data tracks, and doing lots of clearing patterns.

[Paddy]

I can understand the if you simply zero the 'TOC', then all the data will still be on the disk. But if you overwrite the entire disk then how can this be undone? I take it that there is no 'memory effect'?

Just curious!

[Paddy]

From Wombat's link:

Secure Harddisk Eraser gives a high security for non-recovery of the data. It does, however, not guarantee non-recovery. So if your data is top secret the best solution is to:
take out the platters of the harddisk
melt the platters at high temperature