2007-02-09 00:32:41 · 18 answers · asked by Invasion 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Add-ons
Not really. Protected files are saved, I think, plus, it leaves fragments of files. It doesn't wipe it totally clean, but it comes close.
2007-02-09 00:35:46 · answer #1 · answered by togashiyokuni2001 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
How secure do you want to be? If you are trying to hide porn surfing or the like, download Eraser 5.7 (free). It overwrites your HDD to Department of Defense standards using several predetermined patterns (All 0's, all 1"s, 1's and 0's, 0's and 1's, etc.) You can set it to run as many "passes" as you like (7 is DoD standard). However, if you are trying to pull an "Enron", even that is not safe. The FBI has tools that are far beyond anything commercially available. The ONLY way to render a HDD unreadable is to physically destroy the disks inside it. A sledgehammer works well, if you have some excess energy to burn off. Using a carbide drill bit and drilling several dozen holes through the disks will also work. However, if you really want to be safe, I suggest the following: 1. Drill your holes, as above. 2. Use your sledgehammer, again as above. 3.Find the nearest road construction site, the biggest d*** steamroller at the site, and give the operator $20 to roll over the d*** thing. 4.Explosives (do not attempt without supervision from a certified demolitions expert) 5.Can any one say "Incinerator"? (Preferably at least 1500 degrees) 6.Acid Bath (Preferably Hydrochloric)
2016-05-24 00:41:35 · answer #2 · answered by Rose 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What doesn't format your hard drive clean?
The best way to remove data from your hard drive is to melt it into a blob then shred it. Then pour the remains it into a vat of molten metal so it is disposed of with the other Slag.
Just formating and over writing is good to a point. BUT if you have data on their worth many millions of dollars it would be worth using an electron microscope to retrieve the ones and zeros to build a picture of your former hard drive.
It is all a case of economies of scale.
2007-02-09 00:45:10 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's a trick question. Yes, formatting does "delete" all data from the drive, and to the casual computer user, it would be gone. HOWEVER, "delete" doesn't actually remove data from the hard drive. If you, or someone else really wanted to find and peruse that data, it's still there. Delete just makes the hard drive space available for re-writing with new data.
2007-02-09 00:37:32 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
From your point of view, yes it does. From a data recovery point of view (i.e. police) it is usually possible to access data after the disk has been formatted. You need to do a low-level format (one which actually overwrites the disk).
Think of it in terms of a book. A normal format command would just erase the contents page, meaning you couldn't find anything by looking at the contents, but you could thumb through each page. A low level format clears the contents page, and clears the text from each page of the book.
2007-02-09 00:39:49 · answer #5 · answered by mark 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hard disks are usually partitioned into drives. Format cleans(or formats) only the drive that is selected. If you need to format your entire hard disk, you will need to format each drive seperately. Or you may remove all the drives and format the entire disk.
Moreover, formatting or deleteing only frees up the memory for new stuff. To permanently remove the data, you will need to overwrite something over the existing memeory area.
2007-02-09 00:38:08 · answer #6 · answered by Sijo J 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
No. i think some files can be recovered even when the hard drive is formatted.
2007-02-09 00:36:46 · answer #7 · answered by tootee_2611 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The guys who said it removes ALL data but it's still recoverable are correct. The casual user will never see your data but a determined one can.
If you are, say, donating your computer and you absolutely positively want to make sure the next person can't see the naked pics you took of yourself, use Darik's Boot and Nuke which is free at:
http://dban.sourceforge.net/
It may run for a day or more but everything will be gone.
2007-02-09 00:45:19 · answer #8 · answered by Meg W 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
a format wipes all the pointers TO THE files, not the actual data IN the files.
This is the same as when you delete a file.
This means that the area where those files are, may be written over at any time.
BUT
until NEW data is actually written over the old data, it is possible to recover the old data
2007-02-09 00:43:07 · answer #9 · answered by Vinni and beer 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you do Quick Format then it does not cleans every single file but just the index i.e. FAT(File Allocation Table) if you are using FAT system.
If you want to clean the system then do full format.
Bye for now
CSJakharia
2007-02-09 00:36:49 · answer #10 · answered by csplrj 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋