Programs to nuke/erase your Hdd

[MR.awesome1]

Hey guys just wanted to know if you knew of any good quality programs to completely erase/delete your HDD. I am looking to do this beacuase I have a couple HDD's in my house that I wanna just sell, but have personal info on them.

[defunkt]

You can't completely erase a hard drive. The only option is to destroy it.

[Assassin]

Run a big ass magnet around it. 

[MR.awesome1]

So there is no possible programs to completely delete data off of a HDD

[yourdad165]

Well what you could do is use a Windows 7 or any other Windows disc and format the hard drive.

[MR.awesome1]

Well what you could do is use a Windows 7 or any other Windows disc and format the hard drive.

Would that completely delete everything on it so I could re sell it again on ebay for example

[smokincola]

erm I could be being completely dim here but wouldn't a full format (as opposed to a quick format) do the job ? I mean yeah recovery software would still probably be able to find files if someone did run that over the HDD. In which case maybe install Linux on the drive and then reformat again. Two formats and an OS install should hide most things from prying eyes

[yourdad165]

Would that completely delete everything on it so I could re sell it again on ebay for example

 

Yes I would say so, but there would be no way to find out for sure without an OS.

 

Just after formatting the HDD don't go and proceed with the install, just cancel it.

[MR.awesome1]

Yes I would say so, but there would be no way to find out for sure without an OS.

Ok thx guys

[Joshua Ondangan]

use one of those vehicles with big ass magnets if it works.

 

pretty much use some os and format but instead of proceeding with install just cancel. then if you want install linux and then format afterwards. if you feel like it's not enough just keep formatting it and be golden.

 

too much format isn't good for the hdd though. but hey you're selling it anyway let your customer enjoy the problem like 6 months or so later.

[MR.awesome1]

Haha Ok Thx guys for the awesome feed back

[ericlee30]

Yes there is, the program is called active Kill disk-http://how-to-erase-hard-drive.com/ . I have been using this program since the early 2000's. The program is designed to delete every part of any file off your HDD and make it like it is brand new again. Hope this helped  you.

 

 

Edit: CCleaners still leaves fragments of some of your files still on the HDD after earasing, active Kill disk was designed specifically for what you want to do. Active kill disk has 18 diffrent methods of earasing your data permanently ( no left over fragments of any files) and you can run it in DDos mode or windows mode ( I prefer DDos mode if it was/is your boot drive). Please read Active kill disk product overveiw to get a better understanding of how powerful this program really is. http://killdisk.com/erasing.htm

[brownix]

The easiest way would be to use CCleaners built in drive eraser. Set it to how many times you want it done and wait a fee days... I actually recently did one of my drives. 1.8 TB on 1 time and took 18 hrs.

[Opcode]

KillDisk or CCleaner

[EchoRomeoCharlie]

C4.

 

Seriously, it's the only way you can be sure.

[MR.awesome1]

The easiest way would be to use CCleaners built in drive eraser. Set it to how many times you want it done and wait a fee days... I actually recently did one of my drives. 1.8 TB on 1 time and took 18 hrs.

Does the free version of ccleaner come with that option

[Opcode]

Does the free version of ccleaner come with that option

Yes, it allows for a complete erase of the drive. All you should have to do is 1 pass as its suppose to write 0's to the drive. What this means is every bit of data is overwritten by a 0. Which makes data recovery impossible. Just plug the drive in as a slave in your machine (or external enclosure), and run a pass on it.

[MR.awesome1]

Yes, it allows for a complete erase of the drive. All you should have to do is 1 pass as its suppose to write 0's to the drive. What this means is every bit of data is overwritten by a 0. Which makes data recovery impossible. Just plug the drive in as a slave in your machine (or external enclosure), and run a pass on it.

Ok Thx man that's helps a lot

[neon]

Just so people know formatting (even a full format) does NOT erase a drive at all, most data would still be recoverable.
The way to erase data is to use something like DBAN it is an open source erasing utility, boot into it and select your erase method, 1 pass is sort of ok it would thwart most consumer recovery methods, but you can select all the way up to 37 passes, this would most likely kill the hard drive dead, in order to sell the drive 3 passes would be enough, one of zeros, one of random and one of either zeros or ones., depending on the size of the drive you may be in for a long wait.

[MatheusSanzo]

On linux just use dd .