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URGENT HELP REQUIRED - PCs

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7 replies

by bldsm

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Hi.

I am selling a PC and fdisk'd the hard drive, formatted it and fdisked again to ensure all the data is gone.

Can anyone tell me whether a technician at a PC shop could run software and (a) tell that the disk has been fdisked and formatted (apart from the fact it loads in DOS) and (b) can such software recover any of the data on the HDD despite being fdisk'd and formatted.

Urgent reply to my email helpdesk@customercatchers.co.nz appreciated.

Thanks
B

7 replies

by thechas

If you need / want to fully protect your data, you will need to go farther than just a dual fdisk.

At a minimum, make the new partitions from each fdisk run a different size.

If the data is sensitive enough, run one of the over-write utilitiesto place a string of 1's and 0's on the drive.

If it is paramount that the data not ever be recovered, the ONLY option is to physically destroy the drive.

Chas

by mrafrohead

BCWipe by Jetico will help you in your quest to protect your removed data. Use AT LEAST a 7 wipe DOD setup. Although, personally, I would use a minimum of 35.

And what CHAS said about physically destroying the disk is right. If you absolutely have to make sure that the disk is not recovered, you will have to physically destroy it.

Remember, all data is recoverable. It just depends on how much money you want to spend on recovering it.

Mrafrohead

by zlitocook

But there DOD software that meets or excedes their standards. Or if you hard drive maker supports it you can low level format which will write 0's to the drive and mabie a company may be able to get data off of it but it is not vary likely.

by guruofdos

Zero Assumption Recovery will recover all the data in 20 minutes flat! If it's a Maxtor or WD drive, download their utilities for writing out the drive!

by tech support

I would say that, yes you are fine. There are no absolutes aside from destroying the hard-drive. Within reason, the person buying the computer is going to install an operating system and who knows what else, thus over-writing anything that may have been left behind. Depending on who you are selling it to, install the operating system yourself. Anything sensitive to me gets saved on a floppy or CD and never gets to the hard-drive.

by chy_pendragon

Consider how a hard drive stores information. It literally magnatises the surface to read a 1 or a 0. Fdisk just changes the index of where the information can be found. Formating really does nothing much either. However, there are several programs out there that write 1's and 0's to the hard drive (writting 0's is not enough as there is no guarantee that you have demagnatized the surface - So you have to make sure you write all 1's). After this process, if the software trully writes to each point, no one will ever be able to get any of your data from the drive!!!

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