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[beerbelly]

Hi i'm at work and we are responsible for wiping out the data off of about 150 machines. I want to know what program to use to wipe these out the fastest and permanently. I was told that just deleting the partition and formatting the traditional way will still leave data in the harddrive. I work at a hospital and the data in these harddrives are mostly private patient info so these data MUST be removed permanently.

Any suggestions?

 

[koam]

A slow format will set all bits to zero.

format c:

A quick format will only erase the references to the files which is not what you want

format c: /q

 

[Tenacious-V]

There is no fast way if you want to do it properly.

 

[Ecrofirt]

acid.

You'd have to format each drive several times to be sure all the data was really gone.

 

[Lord Error]

I don't think even slow format writes all zeros over the data. I think it formats just the header byte of each cluster or something like that. That's the reason even the slow format is much faster than if you actually had to fill that whole HDD with data. I know that there's software that can recover the data lost by using "format c:", and it wouldn't matter if you format it many times, the data would still be there.

For a failproof method, there's software that does the 'government certified' method of erasing the data seven times.

You could also just fill the whole HDD with some dummy data, that would certainly destroy everything important on it. Not very useful in your case though.

 

[Scrow]

Fastest way to format PERMANENTLY?

 

[bee]

try going to the western digital website ,support then downloads.

then download the data lifeguard diagnostic for windows,that has an option to zero a hard drive( of any make)

 

[Minotauro]

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

That's a link to a program that will let you create a bootable floppy or CD that gives you a number of different wiping methods. The most secure one takes about two days though.

 

[Pellham]

geez have none of you heard of debug? http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1011054

 

[Drexon]

My brother works at a bank and he says the harddrives _have_ to be destroyed to be 'permanently' formatted. I heard some number.. like that information can still be retrieved after 7 formats. So, you know... sledgehammer it.

 

[Nerevar]

the term you're looking for is "zeroing out a hard drive". There pretty much isn't a single way to do it quickly though.

 

[Zaptruder]

hard drives are still have traces of magnetic charge memory, so that while 7 wipes might make it much more difficult to uncover, it doesn't make it impossible.

If you need to reuse the HDs, then 7 wipes will do.

If you don't need to reuse them, then reducing them to fine chips is a good solution. Then burning them.

 

[Hooker]

^ Or put a large magnet on top of it





And like already mentioned, there is no "fast way" - Maybe a quick format first and then putting dummy data on the disc to cover it up. (like a large empty WAV/MPEG2 file - record a whole lot of nothingness on the highest settings/resolution)

 

[Drexon]

^ Or put a large magnet on top of it

That actually sounds like something the Myth Busters should take up.

 

[jenov4]

If these drives need to be deployed and used elsewhere, then the fastest solution is a HDD cloning machine which is hardware based.

 

[fart]

format, zero-fill

do that some k-times for k however long you want to cycle the script

 

[Deleted member 1235]

do you use encryption software? Our laptops at my old work used safeguard easy encryption, so we would just nuke the partition. If anyone unerased the drives they got encrypted data only.

 

[Darias]

Large magnet does not work at all. HDD's are extremely well shielded against magnatism.


I know the data destruction device that the USMC uses (at least as of a couple years ago) performed 512 full writes to every bit on the drive in a random pattern... Took hours -> days to complete, depending on the machine. This software was considered "safe enough" for drives that contained ICBM codes, etc...

As far as the sledgehammer method, the actual platters can still be put through a treatment process to retrieve the data, although this method is great because after spraying with clear coat, read-write heads make great novelty keychains, and the magnets found inside hold FUCKING EVERYTHING to the fridge!

As far as useful information though, you will need a piece of software that completes random-writes to the drive.

Comparatively, you need to think about the usefulness of the information vs. the cost to acquire it vs. the cost to destroy it. What tools are available to destroy the data? (How many machines available) and what comprises the proprietary information you are trying to protect?

About the worst your hospital needs to worry about is identity theft, and patient information is not the best way to gather that...

If you have 5 - 10 robot machines available, I would just run a random or zero write program across each drive 5 times. Then reformat, and re-use them if you can. It'll take long enough to guarantee you a decent paycheck for doing it, be secure enough that it would cost quite a few thousand dollars to recover any usable data from any of the drives, and possibly even save your employer money in that they could re-use the drives.



My two cents, anyway.

 

[Brannon]

LIQUID HOT MAGMA

 

[tenchir]

How about doing a slow format, then fill the harddrive with dummy files? The dummy files should overwrite any previous data that might get left behind after a format.