deleting files

[toyotomi]

i 2nd DBAN.
However, NASA (well technically ontrac) was able to recover nearly all the data off of a hard drive from columbia. If someone REALLY wants to get recover the data, they will. Just pop out the drive and keep it somewhere secure if you're that paranoid.

Well it really depends on who you're trying to keep from looking at your data. If it's NASA and/or the CIA, then you're pretty well fucked unless you place a thermite charge above your harddrives... and so long as you don't mind burning down your house of course.

But for just about everyone else in the worls, DBAN and other similar products (all free I might add) will do the job wonderfully.

But again I don't see a reason to get rid of the HDD. Keep it around and use it as backup.

 

[badgirl_lucy]

Try a program called BC Wipe, it's a multi pass shredder, you can use the free trial version. It works.

 

[guy_thing60]

I'm switching over to a new computer and would like to purchase a program that deletes files, passwords, history, etc. There are so many products out there, most seem to look pretty good. I used to use Private IE.

I'd just like to get other suggestions or opinions on any products anyone has tried and can recommend? Thanks a bunch.

(1)Get Steganos Privacy suite www.steganos.com, I prefer 2008 to the 2009(called ver. 11) but both allow drive wipes, DoD, or Gutzman - much more time consuming. SPS allows a wipe, that's mean overwrite 3x each time you close a browser and also wipes a lot of other application traces. And does total drive erase, but I'm not sure the product gets everything.

(2) Get Killdisk pro, www.lsoft.com - create a boot able CD and start up with that, then pick your hard drive and tell it how many overwrites you want. I do this periodically with all my drives. It destroys traces of the pagefile.sys

(3) for Vista/Windows 7, maybe XP, disable system restore and Volume shadow copy services

No. 1 above will provide relative security on a day-to-day basis, no. 2 will truly wipe a drive to unrecoverable status. No. 3 stops Windows from making hidden copies of data in places all over the drive, making the job of No.'s 1 & 2 easier and more certain.

Be sure to make backups of your drives and/or data...I suggest Acronis True Image, www.acronis.com. Run an image of your system drive (drive C) to an external USB hard drive...Then do NO. 2 above. I do that about every 3 months.

I have not looked enough at Internet Explorer 8 to say what its security implications are, but Steganos privacy Suite 11/2009 does wipe the Internet traces of IE8...I don't trust anything Microsoft produces

JMHO

 

[rydia57]

How bout just soaking it in a pitcher of salt water overnight? Salt water is never good for anything mechanical....