I want to securely delete a virus that seems to auto-recover itself after each type of format. I tried full and quick format and also low-level format. I have a maxtor hdd if that has any importance.
2007-01-31 10:06:00 · 5 answers · asked by tiberiu_only 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
Darik's Boot and Nuke (aka DBAN). This overwrites every bit on the hard drive with a random bit and does it many times over. The government uses this to delete any hard drives before they dispose of them. And best of all it is free.
http://dban.sourceforge.net/
And the person below me is wrong. Just because you have destroyed the drive doesn't mean that data can't be taken off the drive. You could still use a scanning electron microscope to get (at least some of) the data off.
Also read the faq (http://dban.sourceforge.net/) to get some more info on stuff like differences between how it works and how most other formaters work.
2007-01-31 10:10:38 · answer #1 · answered by Pat M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, all that needs to be done is to write garbage values all over the old data. When you delete files what really happens is that files' references are removed from the file table. It's still there, but the OS just ignores existence until the hard drive manager writes some data over those same sectors where your old file used to be. So, writing crap values over the old sectors should just remove the data. Maybe you could use file-shredder to do this, by connecting your target hard-drives to another computer. But, if you really want to prevent someone from getting to your data, just smash the hard drive. Then, there's no way anyone could read your hard disks at that point.
2016-03-28 22:50:31 · answer #2 · answered by Laura 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only way to completely eliminate all data off of a hard drive is to physically destroy the disk itself, as was mentioned above. No matter how many times you run a magnet over it, it is still possible to recover data that has been written on a disk (or even overwritten) on a disk.
Now, granted, a low-level format is probably going to solve your problems for a virus.
2007-01-31 10:16:03 · answer #3 · answered by Kilroy 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Use Drive Scrubber. It comes with System Mechanic. You can get the free trial version from http://www.iolo.com/. System Mechanic has loads of other useful features. I however dont like their latest version. System Mechanic 6 was much better than 7...
Oh wait, you can purchase Drive Scrubber seperately. But you wont find a patch for drive scrubber. You will find one for system mechanic professional. ;)
Um...beating the crap out of it is not the perfect solution if you plan to sell it on ebay. :D
2007-01-31 10:13:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anindya 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that there are some programs that can completely erase your hard drive, but the only surefire way to get it so you couldn't recover any data is to take it outside and beat the crap out of it with a hammer.
2007-01-31 10:11:21 · answer #5 · answered by sriliff 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋