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Dont' forget that a wiped computer is useless to most small non-profits. Do them a big favor and reinstal the operating system (or run the original factory restore) and provide them the certificates of authenticity.
Yes! By all means supply the Original OS and media so the non-profit organization can use the equipment otherwise it can be cost prohibitive to them. I deal with this issue on almost a daily basis. My company provides support to churches and non-profits and routinely evaluate donated equipment.
you don't have the original O/S media or restore CD? I know of a person that fixes "old" computers and gives them to seniors and families that can't afford computers. This person installs a flavor of Linux (not sure which version), she also installs Mozilla Firefox & Thunderbird. She'll walk the seniors through opening Firefox & Thunderbird (if they've got a personal email account with their ISP), showing them basically how to use it.
As a company you should have an IT profesional looking after your interests and he should have access to Evidence Eliminator. You can use it in the trial form for free on each machine no longer required and then pass it on to non profits.
If the original discs are not available (for whatever reason)the operating system and programs are maintained in tact and no laws are being broken.
If the original discs are not available (for whatever reason)the operating system and programs are maintained in tact and no laws are being broken.
I work for the Public School system and we sometimes receive donations of older equipment. Most of the older computers come to us with Windows 3.1 / 95 and 486's or Pentium I's and use SIMM's or DIMM's that are cost prohibitive to update for our network. We usually donate them to needy student's and families.
It's too bad that companies / the government don't donate something a little newer.
It's too bad that companies / the government don't donate something a little newer.
There is a Federal program call Computers For Learning. They donate a LOT a valuable hardware.
Our school has received well over $100,000.00 of used equipment.
http://www.computers.fed.gov/public/aboutProg.asp
Roger
Our school has received well over $100,000.00 of used equipment.
http://www.computers.fed.gov/public/aboutProg.asp
Roger
We're on the same tight budget and what we have to donate is the result of a very expensive upgrade which needs to be supported down the road with costly hardware and software upgrades. On a 12% profit margin, you're lucky to get anything at all from us.
I've started to just in-house wipe, reinstall and advertise direct on freecycle for the newer stuff or strip and recycle for the older stuff. No need to try donating it anymore unless you know of a nonprofit that is really needy and will take something that works.
I've started to just in-house wipe, reinstall and advertise direct on freecycle for the newer stuff or strip and recycle for the older stuff. No need to try donating it anymore unless you know of a nonprofit that is really needy and will take something that works.
Yeah, no Shinola. You can bet your boots that they report the original price of the machine as the value of their "donation".
If they paid $1,000 for their 486 machine back in 1995, that's its value when the IRS hears about it, so they can deduct that value from their corporate earnings.
Nevermind that on the open market, they'd be lucky to get $10 for all their junk at a garage sale.
It really frosts my grapes that the law lets them do that. There are MAJOR corporations that pay less money in taxes than I do, and I have a hard time with that. The guy who sweeps the floor pays more taxes than the multibillion dollar outfit that prints his checks. Of course, he doesn't rub elbows with the guys that write the tax laws.
I love my country. The government SCARES me.
If they paid $1,000 for their 486 machine back in 1995, that's its value when the IRS hears about it, so they can deduct that value from their corporate earnings.
Nevermind that on the open market, they'd be lucky to get $10 for all their junk at a garage sale.
It really frosts my grapes that the law lets them do that. There are MAJOR corporations that pay less money in taxes than I do, and I have a hard time with that. The guy who sweeps the floor pays more taxes than the multibillion dollar outfit that prints his checks. Of course, he doesn't rub elbows with the guys that write the tax laws.
I love my country. The government SCARES me.
No favors here.
We zero and one and zero out the hard disks before they walk out the door. Even in the Mac's. It is important that this is done and not just have the new flavor of OS reloaded over top, since some die hard corporations can get old data that is not written over off hard drives.
We zero and one and zero out the hard disks before they walk out the door. Even in the Mac's. It is important that this is done and not just have the new flavor of OS reloaded over top, since some die hard corporations can get old data that is not written over off hard drives.
Microsoft has a program for Schools called "Fresh Start" It will allow them to install Win98SE or W2K at no cost on any PII or older DONATED computer. For more information see
http://www.microsoft.com/education/freshstart/freshstart.asp
Roger.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/freshstart/freshstart.asp
Roger.
I am a volunteer tech at Computers4Kids (Saskatoon Canada), we generally just clone W98 on the private machines we get. Corp. donations used to get the same treatment, until we got some machines that not only had an operating system NT4, they also had default passwords for the administrator, and other information on the disks. I promtly got Nortons eraser and ran it over the disks . I also find Killdisk works quite nicely too. This has become my standard policy with every machine that we get, unless its old junk( recycled), or antiques.
Yes , for God's sake;
After you've wiped out a hard drive, don't just leave it low level formatted.
Put a "Basic" Operating system such as DOS 6.22 or Win 3.1, better yet, you might even want to thrown in Win 95.
This gives them a shot at being able to install little programs and games for the people who are going to be using these discards.
It's real easy to forget that they will not be as aware as we are and so, Yes, let's give them a boost.And maybe ourselves in the process.
Well said Broken Eagle
Regards
Aaron
After you've wiped out a hard drive, don't just leave it low level formatted.
Put a "Basic" Operating system such as DOS 6.22 or Win 3.1, better yet, you might even want to thrown in Win 95.
This gives them a shot at being able to install little programs and games for the people who are going to be using these discards.
It's real easy to forget that they will not be as aware as we are and so, Yes, let's give them a boost.And maybe ourselves in the process.
Well said Broken Eagle
Regards
Aaron
It's not free, but the prices for software
and hardware is incredibly low.
TechSoup - The Technology Place for Nonprofits
Look in the "TechSoup Stock" area
http://www.techsoup.org/
and hardware is incredibly low.
TechSoup - The Technology Place for Nonprofits
Look in the "TechSoup Stock" area
http://www.techsoup.org/
If you have a chance and a heart try to preload openoffice 2.0 for the organization so they can edit docs and spreadsheets too right "out of the box"
dban smeeban! We have found no out of the box solution for everything. Freeware is rarely a qualified option- there is no support, service, customization, etc. We found an ideal solution from CyberScrub LLC- cyberCide www.cyberscrub.com/cybercide. As we are up to our ears in SOX compliance we have to have a team to stand behind the product. Generally, a program is worth what you pay for it. Keep your freeware- we would rather deal with professionals.
Hi "BA", Darik here.
DBAN is fully supported. See the thousands of questions that I have answered in the public forums.
DBAN is high quality software. It is very stable and rarely needs to be fixed or changed.
DBAN is easily customized. I make money working on DBAN, which is why it is such a good product.
DBAN is backed by a professional, me, educated in the field with years of experience. Can you call any other vendor by name? Can you speak directly to other product developers?
DBAN also has numerous unique benefits, like a public bug tracker and auditable source code.
DBAN is fully supported. See the thousands of questions that I have answered in the public forums.
DBAN is high quality software. It is very stable and rarely needs to be fixed or changed.
DBAN is easily customized. I make money working on DBAN, which is why it is such a good product.
DBAN is backed by a professional, me, educated in the field with years of experience. Can you call any other vendor by name? Can you speak directly to other product developers?
DBAN also has numerous unique benefits, like a public bug tracker and auditable source code.
For the software. It's a great program. I love it and recommend it to other people all the time.
Regards
Cely
Regards
Cely
Darik,
I would appreciate your perspective on clear vs. Purge. If we reverence the NIST 800-88 definition of each level of sanitization, we see that external overwrite processes are considered clear based technologies, or technologies that are susceptible to keyboard attack, with a potential for data recovery using laboratory methods. Whereas, technologies such as Degaussing and Secure Erase (a purge protocol which is embedded in all ATA spec drives since 2001), which are classified as Purge level protection, or not susceptible to laboratory efforts.
As you are aware, software can not purge, or in many cases access the Protected Service Areas such as the Host Protected Area, or the G-list sectors. This alone makes external overwrite technologies unable to sanitize all writable media regions, and can potentially leave legacy data on the device. This is a common condition with all overwrite processes whether initiated by software or a hardware based device that issues obfuscating data to sequential sectors on a drive.
Add to this the fact that there are issues with various vendors of host interface technology that inhibit access to the HPA by OS initiated processes, and overwrite technology has further issues in purging protected area.
The US Department of Defense, Defense Security Service has made a similar statement in their publication titled Industrial Security Letter ISL 2007-01 that is dated October 11, 2007 which states:
?There are currently no overwriting products or process that has been evaluated in accordance with the NIAP Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme (CCEVS).?????..?Effective immediately, DSS will no longer approve overwriting procedures for the sanitization or downgrading (e.g. release to lower level classified information controls) of IS storage devices (e.g., hard drives) used for classified processing.?
Clearly there is a lot of concerns about the effectiveness of overwrite utilities, and considering the time required to complete the process, the investment in time to clear a device makes the process less than efficient.
I am sure that you are aware of Secure Erase, and the value it delivers. Like DBAN it is free, or rather already integrated into the drive as part of the ATA spec. The problem with SE is that many system manufacturers have inhibited it from being passed to the drive controller, as a precaution to protect drives from being maliciously wiped by virus or malware. Hence the reason we do not see vendors running to sell SE based software products. In fact the only way to reliably initiate the SE process is to use purpose built SE appliances that do not have host controller of hardware level contentions.
There is a lot of out dated, conflicting, inaccurate, and vendor driven information in the wild. Anyone looking to develop accurate and responsible guidance will be hard pressed to see the forest from the trees. i have poured through over 1800 pages of information available on hard drive data destruction, yet, find little compelling evidence on why external overwrite technology should continue to be used as a reliable means to sanitize any hard drive. Perhaps this is a suitable means for personal use, but I really do not see value in the private or public sector. From what I see it has reached the end of it's usable life.
If anyone wishes to discuss this matter on or off board, I will be glad to engage on this topic in this thread or by e-mailing me at fedelst@gmail.com
I would appreciate your perspective on clear vs. Purge. If we reverence the NIST 800-88 definition of each level of sanitization, we see that external overwrite processes are considered clear based technologies, or technologies that are susceptible to keyboard attack, with a potential for data recovery using laboratory methods. Whereas, technologies such as Degaussing and Secure Erase (a purge protocol which is embedded in all ATA spec drives since 2001), which are classified as Purge level protection, or not susceptible to laboratory efforts.
As you are aware, software can not purge, or in many cases access the Protected Service Areas such as the Host Protected Area, or the G-list sectors. This alone makes external overwrite technologies unable to sanitize all writable media regions, and can potentially leave legacy data on the device. This is a common condition with all overwrite processes whether initiated by software or a hardware based device that issues obfuscating data to sequential sectors on a drive.
Add to this the fact that there are issues with various vendors of host interface technology that inhibit access to the HPA by OS initiated processes, and overwrite technology has further issues in purging protected area.
The US Department of Defense, Defense Security Service has made a similar statement in their publication titled Industrial Security Letter ISL 2007-01 that is dated October 11, 2007 which states:
?There are currently no overwriting products or process that has been evaluated in accordance with the NIAP Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme (CCEVS).?????..?Effective immediately, DSS will no longer approve overwriting procedures for the sanitization or downgrading (e.g. release to lower level classified information controls) of IS storage devices (e.g., hard drives) used for classified processing.?
Clearly there is a lot of concerns about the effectiveness of overwrite utilities, and considering the time required to complete the process, the investment in time to clear a device makes the process less than efficient.
I am sure that you are aware of Secure Erase, and the value it delivers. Like DBAN it is free, or rather already integrated into the drive as part of the ATA spec. The problem with SE is that many system manufacturers have inhibited it from being passed to the drive controller, as a precaution to protect drives from being maliciously wiped by virus or malware. Hence the reason we do not see vendors running to sell SE based software products. In fact the only way to reliably initiate the SE process is to use purpose built SE appliances that do not have host controller of hardware level contentions.
There is a lot of out dated, conflicting, inaccurate, and vendor driven information in the wild. Anyone looking to develop accurate and responsible guidance will be hard pressed to see the forest from the trees. i have poured through over 1800 pages of information available on hard drive data destruction, yet, find little compelling evidence on why external overwrite technology should continue to be used as a reliable means to sanitize any hard drive. Perhaps this is a suitable means for personal use, but I really do not see value in the private or public sector. From what I see it has reached the end of it's usable life.
If anyone wishes to discuss this matter on or off board, I will be glad to engage on this topic in this thread or by e-mailing me at fedelst@gmail.com
It's stupid to buy drive wiping software.
DBAN wipes anything, to military grade wiping, and it's free.
We use it exclusively.
Good article in general. Yes it's simple stuff, but a lot of people don't even think about this before disposing of equipment.
Anyone who's response here includes recommending paying for software that does the same thing DBAN does for free is...well an idiot. Or an MCSE. Wait, I guess those are synonyms.
DBAN wipes anything, to military grade wiping, and it's free.
We use it exclusively.
Good article in general. Yes it's simple stuff, but a lot of people don't even think about this before disposing of equipment.
Anyone who's response here includes recommending paying for software that does the same thing DBAN does for free is...well an idiot. Or an MCSE. Wait, I guess those are synonyms.
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