Is there a free program that can ensure my documents which I've deleted cannot be recovered?
2007-05-13 10:06:53 · 14 answers · asked by tomstevl 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Software
Trust me on my answer to your qustion. I am a board certified, clinical psychiatrist and over many years have been involved with Intelligence Agenices on and off as a contractor.
There is software sold on the market that claims even with the "Gutman", technique where they wash over with bleech hundreds of times your HDD, they claim this technique will prevent a security expert from recovering the data on your HDD. There is not one word of truth in this statement.
A computer forensic expert can still strip the data off your HDD.
The only two secure methods, 1). beat the HDD to death with a hammer, nothing can be recovered. 2) remove the HDD and keep yourself in a safe place and then get rid of your computer.
The person receiving the computer will have to spend a small amount of money for a new HDD.
I keep all, prior HDD's locked in a home safe. Only because I need to retain the data. Owise, I would beat them to death with a hammer.
Minddoctor, France
2007-05-13 10:16:14 · answer #1 · answered by MINDDOCTOR 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
reformat the hard drive then defrag it use the full defrag option this will prevent most people from recovering any data.
What someone before said about using a hammer is true. in banks or places where sensitive information is been on a computer they take the HDs out and break them with a hammer it is the only way to be 100% guarenteed that the data cannot be recovered
2007-05-13 17:00:34 · answer #2 · answered by mixturenumber1 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nothing free and you can't buy a program that will do it for you either. You could throw your money away if you like and buy some software that might put your mind at rest, but all can be revealed. Tomstevl if your info is that important/dangerous. Remove the Hard drive and get a ferry to some place far out and on the way drop it over the (deep deep) side, it's improbable that they will ever find it, But not impossible!!!!!?????!!!
Have a nice trip.
2007-05-14 10:22:11 · answer #3 · answered by mailliam 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depending on what level of security you want. For serious concerns, download Auto Clave 3 as an .ISO file and burn to CD.
Boot from CD and follow the directions on screen. Choose one of the option methods.
When it has completed the task, you will need to reboot and format the hard drive. It is highly unlikely anyone can recover any information from the hard drive, except someone specialized it that kind of task or job.
2007-05-13 10:40:36 · answer #4 · answered by Lee P 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've known people who've been able to "recover" stuff off of a deleted second-hand hard drive. So I'd like to add my voice to those above who've given the best advice - remove the HDD and smash it to bits.
2007-05-13 10:25:21 · answer #5 · answered by Lobster 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Files can be recovered after they have been deleted.
The easyest way to ensure they aren't recovered is to format drive c.
This will delete everything including windows.
To do this, go to my computer.
Right click C
Click format
You can also use a shredder like this one
http://www.download.com/AbsoluteShield-File-Shredder/3000-2092_4-10164976.html?tag=lst-0-1
2007-05-13 10:14:57 · answer #6 · answered by obiwanrockwood 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A friend of mine who worked in a shop specialising in custom built PC's told me that the very best way to permenantly delete the hard drive was to remove it from the computer and smash it to pieces with a sledgehammer. Not exactly technical advice, but certainly effective.
2007-05-13 10:12:05 · answer #7 · answered by Nexus6 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
if its a older system with a fat32 file system then there is no need to remove the hard drive.
do an unconditional format
when you format normally all the OS does is set flags to say that the sectors are clear for writing.
an unconditional format will write over all data in the hard drive making it imposable to recover.
if its a ntfs drive then i would advice to remove the hard drive and keep it.
2007-05-13 11:44:13 · answer #8 · answered by rage.dave 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Take the hard drive out of the tower and keep it.
Buy a new hard drive (cheap) from Tiger Direct or eBay or somewhere like that & slap it in there.
Good to go!
2007-05-13 12:41:47 · answer #9 · answered by Dave 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have sensitive / personal info. on the computer you could just do a restore to take it back to the way it was when taken out of the box new. (if you have the disks)
This does not fully guarantee no data can be recovered but it would take very special equipment to do it.
2007-05-13 10:12:20 · answer #10 · answered by pappy 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋