what is the best way trash a computer that is freezing up without someone stealing the information out of it, personal info, credit card #, address, etc...................... or is it even possible someone can steal your identity from a froze up computer or is it impossible...........Christi
2007-07-22 04:23:38 · 6 answers · asked by Christi M 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
Take a hammer to the hard drive. That's the ONLY guaranteed way to ensure that data is totally unrecoverable.
There are utilities that purport to "wipe" a hard drive and they do a pretty decent job but someone with the right tools and enough time can recover almost anything. The US government requires drives that contained classified information to be physically destroyed. There is NO software utility approved for deletion of classified data, even the ones that claim to comply to DoD specs.
Merely deleting the partition won't delete the data. Recovering a deleted partition is child's play for someone that knows what they're doing. It can be done in seconds. Ditto for reformatting the volumes on the drive.
2007-07-22 04:37:50 · answer #1 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hi Christi, if you're off the network with it then there's no chance, but if you just want to destroy the unit because you can't swipe it clean, dismantle and burn the brains and bury the cinders or burial @ sea.
Where you live you have no Atlantic, but there are big lakes...makes for a good excuse to go sailing.
Hope you had a good 4th.
ted
2007-07-22 17:33:43 · answer #2 · answered by ticketoride04 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Use one of the previously mentioned secure wipe utilities AND physically destroy the hard drive.
Look up "hard disk" on Newegg.com and it'll show you what a hard drive looks like. Open up your computer and pull that bit out. Get creatively destructive: I personally do a software destruction and then pull the drive apart, etch the disk platters on both sides, cover them in isopropyl and burn them for a little, then put them to a bench grinder and grind the platters into shavings. I then use the drill press to put a hole in each chip on the drive control boards, and then burn them a little. You don't really have to do all this, but it's akin to wearing a belt and suspenders... it's certain to keep your pants up.
Or send your hard drive to me and I'll destroy it for you: destroying the hardware is kind of therapeutic.
2007-07-22 11:49:04 · answer #3 · answered by meandlisa 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot floppy that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. 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."
"DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis."
Free at:
http://dban.sourceforge.net/
2007-07-22 04:51:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Delete the partition.
2007-07-22 04:30:29 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I 100% agree with bostonianinmo they cant see it if its not there.
2007-07-22 09:03:34 · answer #6 · answered by Ricky B 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋