What is the best way to clean off your hard drive??? I know that when you delete things off your computer that it is still saved on your harddrive .... or so I was told .... how do you COMPLETELY clean it off???????
2007-04-28 07:46:30 · 7 answers · asked by Insert_Name_Here25 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
I also need to know if it will wipe out everything?? like my windows as well, I dont have a windows xp disk and cant afford to pay the high price for one.
2007-04-28 08:12:01 · update #1
I also need to know if it will wipe out everything like windows as well??? I dont have a disk and cant afford to buy one.
2007-04-28 08:16:26 · update #2
Use one of the following methods. These will overwrite all data on the hard drive.
DOD 522.220-M requires 3 overwrite passes
NSA requires 5 overwrite passes
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=194873&messageID=2115918
"You can find out the manufacturer of your HD and then attempt to download the formatting tool created by that manufacturer for their HD's. Most HD Mnufactuer have a Zero Fill Low level formatting tool available to erase their HD products. This will clean any existing OS files from your system as well as any viruses other files etc.."
Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) free
http://www.download.com/Darik-s-Boot-and-Nuke/3000-2092_4-10165154.html
http://dban.sourceforge.net/
DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.
Active@ Kill Disk - Hard Drive Eraser (Free version/ $29.95 enhanced version)
http://www.killdisk.com/
Free version limited to 1 erasure pass and first hard drive.
Active@ KillDisk - Hard Drive Eraser is powerful and compact DOS software that allows you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of future recovery of deleted files and folders. It's a hard drive and partition eraser utility.
WipeDrive by White Canyon (no free version)
http://www.whitecanyon.com/
Completely wipe and erase all the information from a computer before selling or discarding it. WipeDrive makes it easy.
2007-04-28 07:56:01 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The best program I have found to completly clean a hard drive is hddguru.com. It will do a low level format on any drive. The best way is to add it to a different computer as a slave or in a portable device.
HDD Low Level Format Tool> http://hddguru.com/
2007-04-28 08:01:42 · answer #2 · answered by Christian Soldier 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only way to be 100% certain that nobody will be able to retrieve any data off your drive is to either use a program to zero-fill it over and over again, or you can simply shoot it with a .44.
2007-04-28 07:52:18 · answer #3 · answered by Bjorn 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
there are a number of procedures in cleansing up our complicated-tension, you're able to do it on your very own. a. you are able to clean it up by using deleting some unecessary data b. format whilst mandatory, yet be careful formatting you complicated tension decrease its existence and confirm you have backup your data. c. use disk freshen up
2016-12-29 13:19:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you only want to clean out specific files and directories, you will want to use a file shredder. Here is link to a free shredder that will do the job and it is free for personal use. :
http://www.handybits.com/shredder.htm
2007-04-28 08:19:32 · answer #5 · answered by gilgamesh226 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) is the best and free from:
2007-04-28 08:06:29 · answer #6 · answered by ELfaGeek 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go do this here: http://dban.sourceforge.net/
2007-04-28 08:00:34 · answer #7 · answered by searchin4sound 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋