Hard drive curiosity (Data retrieval)

Sparks43

Now this might sound a bit strange but here goes.

I am studying for my A+ and i am always looking for spare parts.

A few people have given me pcs without the HDD as they are worried about there personal files being recovered even after a format.


Would it be possible to format a used HDD and fill the space up with useless files and then format again.

Would the earlier information be recoverable in any way?

cookie1977

If someone were to use:
http://www.dban.org/
that should render the drive data unrecoverable

argantrees

When you delete a file off a hard drive it doesn't really get erased. Just the logical link is removed, the data is still there as empty disk space until it's overwritten by something new. I would just format the drive with GPARTED live cd and then fill it with junk data like copies a big AVI (movie) file. Never used DBAN but I guess it does the same thing.

tricky D

Formatting as already noted is no good as most of the data remains in the sectors.

Simple overwriting with an avi wouldn't be satisfactory as it is only a simple overwrite.

The best method is called a Gutmann wipe which overwrites the sectors 35 times with random data and is the grade used by the likes of the NSA. DBAN uses it, eraser probably does to. CCleaner also has this and other simpler (1, 3, 7 passes/wipes as well as 35) available.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

isnt that 35 times overwriting completely unneccesary with modern hds?

surely one over write will do enough of a job that the data will be just about unretrievable

tricky D

Pretty much unless the person has access to some serious gear or the HD is over 10 years old. I'd only bother with it if I had super secret spy type stuff. I'd be perfectly happy with 3 or 7 passes.