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All Forums > Tech Talk > Tech Talk Forum Page 47 > Hiding your computer tracks
AuthorPost
AztecGold11
Member


514 Posts
8/05
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 10:57AM
If you delete files on your hard drive, clear history, empty recycle bin, clear cookies, and internet files--where do things hide?
They recommend software like Erase before you discard a computer as even reformatting hard drive does not delete info.

?????


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jamesn
Senior Member

Cambridge, MA
750 Posts
1/04
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 12:17PM
if you're doing something that requires you to wipe your hard drive for fear of forensic recovery-save your cash on the software if you're going to toss it. take it out of the case and OJ the fuck out of it with a hammer or pickaxe.
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BigBobxxx
Senior Member

2681 Posts
5/04
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 1:33PM
Are you "discarding" (i.e. throwing the computer away) OR planning to give it away to someone else?

If you're throwing it away, why not simply remove the hard drive(s) and be done with it?

If you are, in fact, giving it away and piece of mind is what you're after, there are programs that will completely erase a hard drive by overwriting ALL the data on the hard drive.

One such program is SecurErase which comes as part of the SystemSuite suite of utility programs from VCOM.
This is a first-rate suite of utilities that is affordable and I highly recommend it! Best of all, you receive completely free virus definition updates (so why pay Norton and the others monthly/yearly charges for updates?).

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jamesn
Senior Member

Cambridge, MA
750 Posts
1/04
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 1:50PM
if you're planning to re-use the thing, you can usually find a 120-160gig drive on sale at staples or something for about the price of wiping the old one.
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Jacco All-Star Supporter
All-Star Member

"liable to deprave and corrupt"
2673 Posts
5/04
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 4:26PM
Overwriting all data is not enough to make the data unrecoverable. Last time I checked (which is some time ago, so there are probably technical improvements by now) data that was overwritten 7 times could be recovered by special forensic tools. It ain't cheap, but doable.

Jacco

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jamesn
Senior Member

Cambridge, MA
750 Posts
1/04
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 4:51PM
jacco's right about recovery being possible beyond what you'd expect and the cost of trying to prevent it. you can get a 250gig drive for around 100 bucks, and it'll be fresh and have a higher mtbf than one that's been used.

take the old one, grab something like a hatchet or a hammerdrill and fuck it up until the casing comes apart and the platters(they look like discs) are visible. make sure they don't resemble a disc when you get through with them.

truth is, if someone digs deep enough on a working drive with functional platters, they'll find some data. storage is cheap.

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Jacco All-Star Supporter
All-Star Member

"liable to deprave and corrupt"
2673 Posts
5/04
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 6:52PM
Physical destruction is the way to go. I think the military instructions for destroying data on a harddisk end with something like bulldozing the disk and pouring it in concrete.
And with the current price of harddisks, chances are that one of those 'eraser' programs is just as expensive as a new drive, so take james' advice, buy a new disk.

Jacco

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AztecGold11
Member

514 Posts
8/05
Posted - Sep 23 2005 : 8:13PM
Thanks for info !

I have a Win 95, and 2 Win 98's sitting here.

Nothing criminal on them but alot of personal info. that I don't want to share.

Was once a victim of identity theft--what a nightmare that was to clear up--took months.

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