If I reformat my hard drive, does it make all past activity on my computer unaccessible to anyone, anytime? I

Question

Including computer experts and those types that can research stuff that is technical.

Answer 1

Nope.

Deleting files and programs, and re-formatting the hard drive DOES NOT remove the data from the hard drive.

Deleting and formatting only identifies the data as able to be written over if that space is needed by new files or programs.

The only way to remove the data is to rewrite over the entire hard drive.

A way to do this is to visit http://www.download.com and search for a small FREE program called Killdisk. Download it and create a floppy disk as instructed. Then insert the floppy in the floppy drive, reboot the PC, and follow the instructions/prompts to rewrite the entire drive.

NOTE: This will destroy all programs and files on your PC so make sure you want to do it before you give the Killdisk program the final okay to proceed.

This FREE program is slow so it's best to start it before you go to bed and simply let it run overnight.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Nope. To do this, you will need to run a "shredding" program on your drive to wipe the computer. There are many programs that will do this like Window Washer ( http://www.webroot.com/consumer/products/windowwasher ) You can create a boot disk that will wipe the drive and make data unrecoverable.

By just formmatting a drive, recovering data is easy. I have recovered data on drives that have been formatted 5 times ago.

Answer 3

While anything is possible, running a low level format is about the most secure you can do. It writes either 1 or 0 across the entire disk. This is what we do with the disks when we are returning them after a lease.

To do this look up your disk manufacturer and download tools or look for low level format.

Answer 4

no, data would still be recoverable after a format. to ensure data is removed you need to "wipe" your drive.

Normally data that is erased leaves electronic "remains" of its prior state, which can be recovered, although often at great expense. Wiping a drive, writes random data over the files you erased over and over again until no trace of your files remains.

google hard drive wipe for some tools for doing this:
http://www.google.com/search?q=hard+drive+wipe

i would certainly do this before selling my computer to a random stranger on ebay or such

Answer 5

no. even a proper format still leaves information accessible, as formatting is essentially setting the flags on sectors on your hard disk as empty such that they can be overwritten, but not actually deleting the data stored in these sections. you can find programs to properly erase data permanently, also powerful magnets can be used to wipe data properly as it is stored magnetically.

i am slighly wary as to why you would need to do this however, unless there is rather incriminating data on your disk?

Answer 6

nope sry if you know enogh you can recover a harddrive thats been refomated

if you did something you want to hide shred the harddrive and buy a new one