Can you completely wipe a HDD?

[ANewFace]

I'm getting ready to build a PC for my grandparents and I had a spare 500gb WD blue HDD sitting around that I took out of an old PC. They drive still works, but is there anyway of wiping it completely so I can use it for a new build?

[sissj]

Format it

[Enderman]

yeah its called formatting it...

do 3 overwrite passes and it will be good

[sissj]

Right click the drive and select "Format"

[Aytex]

Go to bios and plug in the old HDD.

set the boot option for your drive with the OS first. than the old HDD as second.

Boot up windows

go to disc management (windows 8 just type in create and format partitions in the windwos search)

right click on your hard drive and press format

[rtpb5642]

yeah its called formatting it...

do 3 overwrite passes and it will be good

Data still is recoverably after 4 passes

[Arty]

Data still is recoverably after 4 passes

It will be running as a os.

so it will constantly be writing over.

[Enderman]

Data still is recoverably after 4 passes

not really

its not like you need to do a certain number of passes to get rd of data, thats not how this works

its just that with more passes it becomes harder and harder to get anything even remotely useful back

 

even one overwrite already wont make it accessible to regular data recovery tools

 

He's using this drive for his grandparents build so hes not trying to hide illegal documents from the government

even just a simple format would be enough

[techguru]

actually you should delete the partitions...remake them..then format it

[rtpb5642]

not really

its not like you need to do a certain number of passes to get rd of data, thats not how this works

its just that with more passes it becomes harder and harder to get anything even remotely useful back

 

even one overwrite already wont make it accessible to regular data recovery tools

 

He's using this drive for his grandparents build so hes not trying to hide illegal documents from the government

even just a simple format would be enough

Yeah i know but in a lab they can recover data thats been formatted and written over 4 times...

[Enderman]

Yeah i know but in a lab they can recover data thats been formatted and written over 4 times...

which costs thousands of dollars and is completely useless if hes just giving it to his grandparents

why the heck would his grandparents spend $5k to recover some documents and games?

[dalekphalm]

I'm getting ready to build a PC for my grandparents and I had a spare 500gb WD blue HDD sitting around that I took out of an old PC. They drive still works, but is there anyway of wiping it completely so I can use it for a new build?

 

 

Format it

 

 

Go to bios and plug in the old HDD.

set the boot option for your drive with the OS first. than the old HDD as second.

Boot up windows

go to disc management (windows 8 just type in create and format partitions in the windwos search)

right click on your hard drive and press format

 

 

Data still is recoverably after 4 passes

 

 

It will be running as a os.

so it will constantly be writing over.

 

 

The lot of you are either under thinking it or over thinking it.

 

The OP specifically asked how to "completely wipe a HDD". A simple format will not do this. With free, readily available software (eg: Recuva - Made by Piriform, the same guys as CCleaner), you can easily recover data from a HDD that has been formatted over.

 

However, the solution is equally as easy: There are TONS of HDD cleaning/erasure tools. The idea is to completely fill up the HDD with new data - generally either Zero Passes (writing the entire HDD over with bits in Zero state), or Random fill Passes (Filling up the HDD with a random selection of Zero's and One's).

See this list for a selection of excellent, free utilities:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-hard-disk-cleaning-and-erasing-tools/

 

@ANewFace easy peasy. I recommend one of the following from that list:

1. Active@Kill Disk - Hard Drive Eraser - http://download.cnet.com/Active-Kill-Disk-Hard-Drive-Eraser/3000-2092_4-10073508.html?tag=mncol;2

2. Eraser - http://download.cnet.com/Eraser/3000-2092_4-10231814.html?tag=mncol;4

 

Both are relatively easy to use, and will be quite effective.

[Aytex]

 

dafaq u tlaking about m8. i formateed my drive it completeley wipes it. I think UR overthinking/underthinking it

[dalekphalm]

dafaq u tlaking about m8. i formateed my drive it completeley wipes it. I think UR overthinking/underthinking it

All formatting a HDD does, is essentially clear the partition table and index. I guarantee you that a lot of data from before you wiped it is recoverable, with free software (such as what I mentioned above).

 

A format "wipes" it in the sense that it tells Windows to "forget" about the data, but doesn't physically overwrite it. And even overwriting the data once can still often be recoverable. As others have mentioned, the more passes means the harder it is, and a good overwrite once over (A single pass) is good enough for regular means, but I'm simply clarifying.

 

I'm not overthinking it at all. I'm simply giving the OP the correct information, and dispelling some misinformation while I'm at it. It's up to the OP to decide how thorough he wants to be. Maybe a simple format is good enough for him. Maybe not. I'm giving him the proper options, and he can make up his own mind on the matter.

[Aytex]

 

k, y u no help me when i was about 2 format hdd 

[Captain_WD]

I'm getting ready to build a PC for my grandparents and I had a spare 500gb WD blue HDD sitting around that I took out of an old PC. They drive still works, but is there anyway of wiping it completely so I can use it for a new build?

 

Hey ANewFace,

 

A simple format would delete the partition table and thus make the data of the drive invisible to the OS and it will write the new one over the old. For completely deleting the data from the drive I would suggest performing a "writing zeros" function. I would suggest using WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool to do that. It has the quick and full option. The first one will write 0s on the fist and the last million bits of the drive and make it practically unreadable while the full one will put a 0 in every bit of the drive. Here's a link: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=u8Soe9

 

Captain_WD.

[Arty]

The lot of you are either under thinking it or over thinking it.

 

The OP specifically asked how to "completely wipe a HDD". A simple format will not do this. With free, readily available software (eg: Recuva - Made by Piriform, the same guys as CCleaner), you can easily recover data from a HDD that has been formatted over.

 

However, the solution is equally as easy: There are TONS of HDD cleaning/erasure tools. The idea is to completely fill up the HDD with new data - generally either Zero Passes (writing the entire HDD over with bits in Zero state), or Random fill Passes (Filling up the HDD with a random selection of Zero's and One's).

See this list for a selection of excellent, free utilities:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-hard-disk-cleaning-and-erasing-tools/

 

@ANewFace easy peasy. I recommend one of the following from that list:

1. Active@Kill Disk - Hard Drive Eraser - http://download.cnet.com/Active-Kill-Disk-Hard-Drive-Eraser/3000-2092_4-10073508.html?tag=mncol;2

2. Eraser - http://download.cnet.com/Eraser/3000-2092_4-10231814.html?tag=mncol;4

 

Both are relatively easy to use, and will be quite effective.

 

The lot of you are either under thinking it or over thinking it.

 

The OP specifically asked how to "completely wipe a HDD". A simple format will not do this. With free, readily available software (eg: Recuva - Made by Piriform, the same guys as CCleaner), you can easily recover data from a HDD that has been formatted over.

 

However, the solution is equally as easy: There are TONS of HDD cleaning/erasure tools. The idea is to completely fill up the HDD with new data - generally either Zero Passes (writing the entire HDD over with bits in Zero state), or Random fill Passes (Filling up the HDD with a random selection of Zero's and One's).

See this list for a selection of excellent, free utilities:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-hard-disk-cleaning-and-erasing-tools/

 

@ANewFace easy peasy. I recommend one of the following from that list:

1. Active@Kill Disk - Hard Drive Eraser - http://download.cnet.com/Active-Kill-Disk-Hard-Drive-Eraser/3000-2092_4-10073508.html?tag=mncol;2

2. Eraser - http://download.cnet.com/Eraser/3000-2092_4-10231814.html?tag=mncol;4

 

Both are relatively easy to use, and will be quite effective.

I never understood this why fill with random 1 and 0 why not just put all 0? or all 1?

[dalekphalm]

 

Hey ANewFace,

 

A simple format would delete the partition table and thus make the data of the drive invisible to the OS and it will write the new one over the old. For completely deleting the data from the drive I would suggest performing a "writing zeros" function. I would suggest using WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool to do that. It has the quick and full option. The first one will write 0s on the fist and the last million bits of the drive and make it practically unreadable while the full one will put a 0 in every bit of the drive. Here's a link: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=u8Soe9

 

Captain_WD.

 

I keep forgetting that WD Lifeguard has this function built in

[dalekphalm]

I never understood this why fill with random 1 and 0 why not just put all 0? or all 1?

In practice, Zero Writing is sufficient, and even with DOD/NSA protocols, that's usually what they do with multiple passes.

 

The idea behind random bits is that it will make the data much harder to reconstruct per pass, since (in theory) there's no pattern to follow.

 

But as I said, in practice, it really doesn't matter at that point. If you're crazy paranoid, or Edward Snowden, you're gonna be doing like 35-pass wipes anyway.