How to format/erase data on a HDD for sale
- Thread starter crammond
- Start date
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Formatting is one way to do it, go to:
My computer- then right click on the drive- then go to format. I think anything over 4gb is automatcally formatted to NTFS so stick with that format and the more you have the longer it will take.
My computer- then right click on the drive- then go to format. I think anything over 4gb is automatcally formatted to NTFS so stick with that format and the more you have the longer it will take.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
It will if you do a full format.
Do not say you know how to format when the thread title says "How to format" very misleading.
Do not say you know how to format when the thread title says "How to format" very misleading.
It's very easy to recover data off of a hard drive after a format, be it quick or full. You need to zero-fill a drive to really get rid of the data, even then multiple passes are required to fully scrub a drive.
Goldskis45
New member
Hmmblah is correct. There is still a misconception among people that formatting is truly erasing. I found an old hard drive that was only a half gig at a thrift shop for $1 I took it home. It had been formatted. I was able to recover a fully functional copy of windows 95 with all the files still in it. It made a good honeypot on my network for another 4 years until it went suicidal and committed Harakiri carry with its wand.
S_I_N
New member
one should not spout off about what they dont know about.
I accidentally formatted a flash drive that had alot of pictures i saved off a hdd before reformat. I googled recovering files after formatting and found a FREE program that allowed me to recover those pictures.
FredEx
New member
Google, "DOD wipe of a hard drive" without the quotes. There are many freebies that will do a DOD (Department Of Defense) wipe of a hard drive.
I used to erase tapes on reel to reel tape drives by writing a little assembly program to toggle writing hex 00 and then FF to the tape over and over. While it was doing that I could use that action to analyze read/write boards for repair for the tape drive and erase the tape too. They do similar in a DOD wipe, multiple overwrites essentially erase any former data. Some parts of the gov are so paranoid they have devices to grind whole hard drives into a powder.
I used to erase tapes on reel to reel tape drives by writing a little assembly program to toggle writing hex 00 and then FF to the tape over and over. While it was doing that I could use that action to analyze read/write boards for repair for the tape drive and erase the tape too. They do similar in a DOD wipe, multiple overwrites essentially erase any former data. Some parts of the gov are so paranoid they have devices to grind whole hard drives into a powder.
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FTR.4500MHz
New member
Low Level Format your drive. (Writing 0's all over it)
I use this little tool for it:
http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/
I use this little tool for it:
http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/
alpenwasser
New member
As mentioned, formatting is indeed not sufficient. You either need to zero-fill the drive or fill it with random data (this is only necessary if you wish to encrypt it afterwards, not for just selling it, but it would also work here).
If you have access to a Linux/UNIX box (or a live CD), you can enter on a terminal:
Where sdX is your drive of choice. Make sure it's the right one, this command does not have a sanity check and will just do what you tell it to, so with the wrong X you can easily wipe your system or data drive
.
The command is finished when you get the message "no space left on device". Something like this:
As already mentioned, zeroing a drive takes a long time (although filling it with random data is a lot slower still).
If you have access to a Linux/UNIX box (or a live CD), you can enter on a terminal:
Code:
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=4096Where sdX is your drive of choice. Make sure it's the right one, this command does not have a sanity check and will just do what you tell it to, so with the wrong X you can easily wipe your system or data drive
.The command is finished when you get the message "no space left on device". Something like this:
Code:
dd: writing to ‘/dev/sdX’: No space left on device
541657+0 records in
541658+0 records out
1073741824 (1.0 GB) copied, 341 s, 3 MB/sAs already mentioned, zeroing a drive takes a long time (although filling it with random data is a lot slower still).
UkGouki
New member
last 0 wipe i did took 27 hours on a 500GB drive...the tool that FTR.4500MHz linked is what i use 
thankfully its alot faster and more secure now ive bought 2nd hand hdds in the past and found pictures movies hell even bank & card details on them. a 0 wipe and then found nothing
thankfully its alot faster and more secure now ive bought 2nd hand hdds in the past and found pictures movies hell even bank & card details on them. a 0 wipe and then found nothing
FredEx
New member
Quite a while back I was given a Gateway system, an old Intel based system, I forget the processor. The friend went MAC and wanted the hard drive out of the Gateway to destroy it even though I assured him I could wipe it clean. We took it apart and I educated him about the parts in it. I took the platters out and I got the actuator magnet out for him, very strong. I don't know what he did with the platters.
FTR.4500MHz
New member
last 0 wipe i did took 27 hours on a 500GB drive...the tool that FTR.4500MHz linked is what i use
thankfully its alot faster and more secure now ive bought 2nd hand hdds in the past and found pictures movies hell even bank & card details on them. a 0 wipe and then found nothing
WTF 27 hrs ?
Takes me 5 1/2 hrs for my 750GB drive.
UkGouki
New member
FTR.4500MHz
New member
Yeah that explains it all. =)
alpenwasser
New member
Hehe, that reminds me of one of those machines banks use to destroy their HDDs that actually punch holes right through them :lol:
When my 15k Seagate Cheetah gave out in 2010 (well, actually the SCSI controller died and I didn't want to buy a new one) I took it apart. There were a lot of weights in there!
Oh, I just remembered one of the more interesting HDD teardowns I've seen yet (sry for off-topic, but I think this is very interesting. If it really bothers someone a mod will surely delete it; I won't take it personally
):HDD Teardown
FTR.4500MHz
New member
Gotta love these australian dudes !
alpenwasser
New member
I love all dudes! No wait, that came out wrong!!! :huh:
But yeah, his channel is pretty awesome. Although I don't think I know all that many Aussies on Youtube, only other one that comes to mind right now is SingularityComps.
Funnily enough, I was actually conceived in Australia (got a look at my parents' plane tickets a few years back and calculations match :lol
But yeah, his channel is pretty awesome. Although I don't think I know all that many Aussies on Youtube, only other one that comes to mind right now is SingularityComps.
Funnily enough, I was actually conceived in Australia (got a look at my parents' plane tickets a few years back and calculations match :lol
FredEx
New member
Very interesting video.
I found a link with a platter pack with the same platters in hard drives I used to rebuild. They were single platter 1 Meg Winchester. We had a HUGE cabinet drive sent to us that took 10 Meg 10 platter packs. They freaked when I could not save it at a reasonable cost. Repair costs would have far exceeded replacement costs.
Platters the same...only difference was the drives I rebuilt had one:
I found a link with a platter pack with the same platters in hard drives I used to rebuild. They were single platter 1 Meg Winchester. We had a HUGE cabinet drive sent to us that took 10 Meg 10 platter packs. They freaked when I could not save it at a reasonable cost. Repair costs would have far exceeded replacement costs.
Platters the same...only difference was the drives I rebuilt had one:
