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Secure wiping goes beyond zero-fill operations, and provides an extra level of security. Most secure wiping programs are designed to meet DoD 5220 standards, which require three passes of overwriting with a special numeric pattern and verification. More information about this and other secure standards are available from the DataErasure website.
(Note that the 2007 revision of the Defense Security Service, Updated DSS Clearing and Sanitization Matrix (June 28, 2007) now recommends degaussing or drive destruction for maximum protection.
Stanford University's Disk and Data Sanitization Policy and Guidelines, a must-read for understanding data wiping issues, recommends Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) for secure hard disk wiping.
Time Needed: several hours (varies with size and speed of drive)
Software: Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN); available from http://www.dban.org/
Media: blank CD (all versions) or floppy disk (version 1.0.7 and older versions)
1. Download the DBAN boot image ZIP file (we used version 1.0.7 and beta version 2.0 for this article); we downloaded the ISO image for CD burning, but a floppy disk builder is also available
2. Extract the contents of the compressed file.
3. Burn the ISO image file extracted in Step 2 to CD; see our article on how to do this, or use the built-in ISO CD image burning support in Windows 7. If you downloaded the floppy image builder, run the program to create a bootable floppy disk.
4. Restart the computer using the CD or floppy disk created in Step 3.
5. Press Enter to run DBAN in interactive mode.
6. Use up and down arrow keys to highlight the drive to wipe.
7. Press the space bar to select the drive.
8. Press M to select the wiping method.
9. Press F10 to begin the wipe process.
10. At the end of the process, shut down the system. You can reuse or recycle the wiped hard disk.
Note: if DBAN is unable to recognize your SATA hard disks, configure your system BIOS to use IDE mode rather than AHCI mode.
Programs such as DBAN or vendor-supplied hard disk utilities are limited in the devices they support: they are designed to work with internal ATA/IDE or SATA hard disks only. Programs that work with flash memory cards and USB flash drives often support hard disks as well, enabling you to use a single program for all disk wiping processes. Roadkil's DataWipe can be used with any hard disk, floppy disk, or flash drive that has a drive letter.
Comments are closed on this article
ronnie2
October 10, 2011 at 5:22am
I had no idea about this, I always thought that by simply deleting my data I get rid of it for good... This is not good, I have already sold two hard disks and I didn't know about this, hopefully those who bought them don't know how to recover the deleted files. Usually I am more careful about this stuff, I even use regcure to keep my system clean and well functioning, I should have known about it...
Ruf
April 12, 2010 at 10:25pm
A much better solution to wiping and erasing is to encrypt the drive with TrueCrypt.
That way the data is still intact rather than completely destroyed. Once encrypted, there ain't nobody going to get data out except you.
I've used DBAN and it's slow as hell. 9 hours to wipe a 640GB drive and thats with only one pass!
I encrypted the same drive in 6 hours with TrueCrypt.
To0nces
April 02, 2010 at 1:09pm
A hammer is a lot faster.
Assuming you're just throwing the drive out.
Athlonite
April 01, 2010 at 10:47pm
I prefer either the DOD method or KGBs using upto 30 overwrites per sector all 0's then 1's then random 01's
Play till it breaks then learn how to fix it!
Cityscape
March 20, 2010 at 6:51pm
Can a hard drive be used after a zero-fill or a secure wipe? Can I do a secure wipe and the sell my drive, will it be in working condition?
Also you never mentioned about zero-fills on other brands (such as Quantum).
Athlonite
April 01, 2010 at 10:27pm
yes they will still work and Quantum are no more they were bought out by WD so just use their tool
Play till it breaks then learn how to fix it!
eleavings
March 11, 2010 at 10:28am
Also there's the Gutman method. Very effective.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutmann_method
PhoneyVirus
March 10, 2010 at 6:59pm
Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) for secure hard disk wiping is the best, as its so easy to use Nice Work Mark Thanks
satish
July 24, 2010 at 12:15am
thanx for sharing... it is very use ful in formating the hard disk...............
I Jedi
March 10, 2010 at 11:04am
I still believe that the most secure way of erasing your H.D.D./S.D.D. is to use Darik's Boot and Nuke program, and to also nail the H.D.D./S.S.D. with a sludge-hammer. Personally, I had some pics of my gf one time, and needless to say, I did not want the world to see them. Ha. Ha. So, after I no longer wanted them, I used Darik's Boot and Nuke to erase the data on the H.D.D. Kind of wish I didn't now. :/
I would just like to further state that I think this is one of your better articles to come out in recent weeks. Really helps new beginners understand why erasing isn't enough, and how to properly dispose of data on their computers.
Pyrophorics
March 10, 2010 at 9:37am
When I am done with my old hard drives I just physically open them and destroy the platter, quicker than a zero write. :/
Scootiep
March 09, 2010 at 7:44pm
"As long as the operating system does not reuse the space occupied by a
file with another file, the “deleted” file can be recovered." I have to add that I have used Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software to recovery data from a laptop drive that had a corrupted boot sector. It was able to retrieve data that I had deleted multiple years ago and had been overwritten many, MANY times. I think what you are saying here is very misleading. Not to mention the fact that the Stellar recovery software is fairly cheap at $99 making it available to anyone wanting to use it for proper or improper means. Personally, when I want to wipe a drive, I DBam it for a good 7 passes or more. on the other hand, if you know a friendly Raidologist (like my uncle) you can always have him stick it in his MRI. Those suckers will destroy any form of electronic data permenantly.To start press any key...ohh, where's the "Any" key. - Homer Simpson
NSain
March 10, 2010 at 11:35am
No where in the article, that I could find, did it state that you should have mutiple passes made with writing zero's. There are programs out there can can and have recovered files even after have been overwritten. I wish I could remember the name of the program I used years ago that could be set to automatically perform a set number of passes on a drive. Took bloody long enough but at least you knew someone would have to be very, very persistent to recover anything off it.
I Jedi
March 10, 2010 at 1:14pm
I do find it rather interesting that someone can get a H.D.D., that has been written over with 1/0's, and manage to still recover data. I would imagine you would have to have some pretty good software to make such a thing happen.
unitymind
March 09, 2010 at 7:16pm
I use CCleaner to wipe the free space and clean up the drives. I set a long wipe and leave the computer to run all day...Works great!
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner
Athlonite
April 01, 2010 at 10:30pm
thats Not the same as what's being talked about here al your doing is making sure that a sector is clean of previously deleted data it doesn't stop it from ever being brought back
Play till it breaks then learn how to fix it!
DBsantos77
March 09, 2010 at 7:07pm
Any advice on drives that don't boot?
-Santos
Gigabyte 785GX Micro Atx
AMD Phenom II 720 (Quad @ 3.6 Ghz 1.47v.)
6 GB DDR3 1333
Corsair 500w
Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro Rev.2
HIS HD 5850 @ 940/1175/1175v
500 GB
jgrimoldy
March 09, 2010 at 8:31pm
For drives that don't boot, you have several options:
You could use a USB adapter to go to either SATA or IDE (depending on what you need) then connect to a working system and use any of the windows-based wiping solutions.
Let's not rule out the effectiveness of physically making the drive inoperable:
- Removing the cover and banging the platters with a hammer should be sufficient
- Putting the whole drive in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds should sufficiently cook the embedded controller board. If you've ever nuked a CD or DVD, the same thing happens when you put anything with ICs in the nuker. Sure, data will likley remain on the platters, but without a working embedded controller board, the data is inaccessible for all practical purposes. It's HIGHLY UNLIKELY that some hacker will have an extensive collection of drive controller boards and have one to replace your nuked board.
-j
DBsantos77
March 09, 2010 at 9:57pm
Awesome, thanks a bunch for the suggestions! :]
-Santos
Gigabyte 785GX Micro Atx
AMD Phenom II 720 (Quad @ 3.6 Ghz 1.47v.)
6 GB DDR3 1333
Corsair 500w
Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro Rev.2
HIS HD 5850 @ 940/1175/1175v
500 GB
