Hard Drive Wipe

Trying to clean some Hard Drives. Killdisk seems to be a good utility but is there anything faster...I know beggars should not be choosers since it is freeware but it is slower than malaises. And I mean slow...I would like to get these few machines wiped before I grow old...Thank You.....

 

Fdisk, remove all partitions. Done.
Not what you'd call totally secure, but fast.

 

Thanks...I will just do...fdisk!!! Have a great day!!!!

 

szvpvp,

If by clean you mean removing all data, be forewarned that FDISK is fast but it's fast because it does not remove the data from the drive.

If you're just using fdisk so you can reuse the drive yourself no big deal. If it's going somewhere out of your control you should know that there are numerous utilities that can recover data from a drive that has been formatted or fdisked.

MIT: Discarded hard drives yield private info

Regards,

ICE

 

Don't know about speed, but I believe PowerMAX will write zeroes to an entire drive.

http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

Manual (look toward the end about low level formatting and Write Disk Pack):

http://www.maxtor.com/en/documentation/manuals/powermax_guide_en.pdf

But, you know, I agree with reboot . No one is likely to even attempt to find anything on that drive. It would require special skills or money and the likelihood is extremely remote.

Fdisk and format and forget it.

 

Very true, BUT there are a couple of files on MOST computers that hold very private information. Quicken, QuickBooks data files, any payroll or tax info, password managers that contain bank accounts, PayPal. To nuke individual files or folders, I use BCWipe. When you click on a file to delete, just choose option to ' "delete with wiping ". You can choose a variety of options, one pass, multiple pass or full blown Department of Defense scrub downs. I rarely use it, except for the few sensitive files most of us do have. Easy fast solution. I give a rats butt for the remaining 99.99% of info on the drive.
Free - older release
Current - Newer Paid Version
Both versions run on w95 through XP.

 

As far as working from within Windows goes, this app has all the usual stuff, like clear internet history, clear mru's, etc., but the interesting feature is its ability to zero the free space on a drive. That way all the deleted files are truly deleted from the drive and no longer recoverable.

WipeOut (free):
http://www.securitysoftware.cc/apps.html

ilSystem Wiper allows for secure file deletion and the specification of the number of delete passes (free, I think):
http://www.webmasterfree.com/software/2883.html

 

Though fdisk does not remove the data, just the FA Table, it should be enough. The next thing installed on that hard drive is going to rewrite the FAT, and overwrite any data that was there anyhow.
I still think that fdisk is the fastest way.
There are LOTS more ways that are more secure.