Need to wipe drive

[neworldman]

What it the best way to completely wipe my 2 tb hard drive... I will only use it for storage now so I don't want any operating systems on it.. Is Wipe Drive good or Kill Disk... Want something ease to use.... Thanks

[roma_turok]

Simple Format with quick format option check, will be enough.

[Moontrash]

go into my computer...right click on the drive...format....quick format ...done.

there's never been a lot of real actual proof that wiping your drive more than 1nce that anyone could recover any real solid data from a drive. I was reading about this a few months ago and anything over 1 is wasting time. I use an app called eraser on 3 passes and never look back. You'll overwrite that data that was on that drive so many times that you won't have to worry about anyone finding anything on it

[jagabo]

A quick (or even regular) format will not wipe (overwrite) the data on the drive. It just creates a new, empty, root directory and empty's the allocation tables (the map of what parts of the disk are used). Anyone can recover large portions of the data that was on the drive with an "unformat" utility. So formatting is not a secure erasure of the data on the drive -- if that is what you're worried about.

[Bonie81]

there was a good (DBAN) free disk wiper available in ISO format. Just search on the net.
DBAN did not wipe successfully in one or two cases. I did not tried latest updated version in 2010.
I guess Active Kill disk or Paragon Disk Wiper Personal is FREE (OR TRIAL) for personal non-commercial home use.
burn it on CD and also get Free Disk partition utility like GParted or Parted Magic on CD as well.
disk Wiping is time consuming, its better to trigger it from spare PC.

[jagabo]

Another fairly secure way to wipe a drive is to format it (quick of full) then write a very big file (the full size of the disk) to it. You can easily write a program to open a file and write to ut until it gets a disk full error. Note that you have to use NTFS format, not FAT. FAT is limited to 4 GB files.

[jman98]

go into my computer...right click on the drive...format....quick format ...done.

there's never been a lot of real actual proof that wiping your drive more than 1nce that anyone could recover any real solid data from a drive. I was reading about this a few months ago and anything over 1 is wasting time. I use an app called eraser on 3 passes and never look back. You'll overwrite that data that was on that drive so many times that you won't have to worry about anyone finding anything on it

Actually at universities and other research centers they have looked into this and sometimes even after multiple passes you can still recover some data. They are using tools that are far beyond anything a normal person would have access to though, but various governments and possibly some of the better recovery companies might still be able to get some stuff back even after multiple erases.

[redwudz]

The OP just wants the clear out/disable the operating system, so I would agree with a quick format. You don't need a 'wipe'. If you need to totally destroy sensitive data, the only sure way is to destroy the drive physically.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I always use Full Format on attached drives because it will erase any malware. Kill Disk is too slow for attached drives but I still use it for the C: drive when I do a clean install.

[jagabo]

I always use Full Format on attached drives because it will erase any malware.

Not on modern hard drives. It simply scans (read only) the full surface of the disk looking for bad blocks. It doesn't "erase" any better than a quick format. On a floppy disk a full format overwrites any existing data.

[hech54]

Doesn't matter....Abby and McGee can recover any HDD.

[jagabo]

Even after melting it down to slag? They are good!

[MOVIEGEEK]

I always use Full Format on attached drives because it will erase any malware.

Not on modern hard drives. It simply scans (read only) the full surface of the disk looking for bad blocks. It doesn't "erase" any better than a quick format. On a floppy disk a full format overwrites any existing data.

You are correct, it's only recommended for new drives. I just do it because of habit(possibly from the old floppy days).

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/80478-tech-myth-2-quick-format-vs-full-format?obref=obinsite

[aedipuss]

if you really want/need data erasure go to the drive manufacturer's website and download their drive tools. they have true low level formatting available. it can take 24+ hours with TB and over drives.

[Cauptain]

Try a FREE PARTITION WIZARD

Wipe all data with secure many pass. Its a very nice freeware Hd tools.

All Windows work.


Claudio

[Bonie81]

Cauptain

thank for the link.

Parted Magic works on both Win and Tux. If creates NTFS for WIN. But, could not try as my OS IS TuX.
It does have secure erase tool in system tools folder.

Features

• Format internal and external hard drives.
• Move, copy, create, delete, expand & shrink hard drive partitions.
• Clone your hard drive, to create a full backup.
• Test hard drives for impending failure.
• Test memory for bad sectors.
• Benchmark your computer for a performance rating.
• Securely erase your entire hard drive, wiping it clean from all data.
• Gives access to non-booting systems allowing you to rescue important data.
• Runs from the CD, no install required.

I use frequently without secure delete/erase to resize partitions or change the TuX distro.

[mammo1789]

One thing no one seems to understand is that you can never erase any data on hdd. What ever method you only wright new data with rubbish over the existing sensitive data ( and in passes from 1-30 and more ) so the programs or operating system can not understand that data and will report it as free space to right over it again.

Simple Format with quick format option check, will be enough.

That's is completely not true simple format even full format just deletes information for os to forget that there is any data its actually preparation for the media (hdd) to accommodate the operating system and to treat it as free space but even free programs like recuva http://www.piriform.com/recuva can easily restore the data ( guaranty tried and there is even better software's that can do much much more )

with full format some times can not "delete" mbr ( that's the boot sector of the disk ) i had once problem on one pc formatted with windows 7 dvd and then i tried window xp and i couldn't do it because windows xp format tool couldn't "delete" the windows 7 mbr or boot information so i had to do low level format

If that's your operating system partition you can use tons of programs when you can boot from dvd or cd and do low level format like http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/ or google and see for yourself.

If thats your hdd and you have another pc you can plug that hdd in that pc and "wipe" "shred" and alike with some of the systems the more times the better.

[redwudz]

This is the security approved method of permanently wiping a hard drive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_T_4mc6PYg&feature=related

[AlanHK]

What part of the original poster's simple need to erase the operating system and use the disk for storage stimulated all this paranoid wankery about secure deletion and multiple overwrites, etc, etc ad nauseam?

He DOES NOT need to hide anything. He just wants to reclaim space.
Any "format" will do what he needs.
Problem solved.
The KGB is not going to try to resurrect his Windows XP system folder.