msis2002
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Wiping/Cleaning A Hard drive
Good day,
On a shared computer used by the children someone has been viewing and saving (let's just say) unsavory materials on the hard drive. I would like to totally clean/wipe the drive and reinstall Windows XP. However, I am told that even after "formatting" and reinstalling windows, files can be restored or recovered. Is there any way to ""really"" clean the drive so that previous files cannot be recovered. I am looking for a low cost or free solution if possible. Kids are pretty savy these days and I will be locking down this system better after this cleanup.
Thanks
On a shared computer used by the children someone has been viewing and saving (let's just say) unsavory materials on the hard drive. I would like to totally clean/wipe the drive and reinstall Windows XP. However, I am told that even after "formatting" and reinstalling windows, files can be restored or recovered. Is there any way to ""really"" clean the drive so that previous files cannot be recovered. I am looking for a low cost or free solution if possible. Kids are pretty savy these days and I will be locking down this system better after this cleanup.
Thanks
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Yes, you'd make a boot CD and run the utility against the hard drive. It's almost certainly not necessary though. While it's possible, under some circumstances, to recover data from formatted hard drives, it's not easy and it's unlikely these kids would know how (or know to try). Still, if it makes you feel comfortable...
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ASKER
Hi Paulmacd et al...,
I'm pretty sure I can make a boot CD but I'm not sure how to include the ERASE utility on the CD. Can you provide or suggest a link where I could get step-by-step instructions on how to do this? I'm kind of a novice at this.
Thanks for all your help.
I'm pretty sure I can make a boot CD but I'm not sure how to include the ERASE utility on the CD. Can you provide or suggest a link where I could get step-by-step instructions on how to do this? I'm kind of a novice at this.
Thanks for all your help.
Not sure Eraser can be used from a Boot CD, unless the boot CD had an OS of some kind on it. I have always used it to wipe a disk attached as a USB drive using the ide/SATA to USB adapter.
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After single erase your children will not be able to recover anything from this drive, that is for sure. If you are trying to protect yourself against more serious guys then you need to use adult approach which will wipe the drive using DOD algorithm.
Look this article: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/how-to-really-erase-a-hard-drive/129
Look this article: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/how-to-really-erase-a-hard-drive/129
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ASKER
Thank you both for your quick and most welcome responses. Let me first say that I agree with you both that the problem is definitely keeping the kids restricted to more wholesome activities. I will explore that after I redo the system. Unfortunately I have limited means and I'm not sure that I can purchase a drive just yet, although I would love to.
If I use the "eraser" utility, can that be used as a boot CD so that I can then clean the drive? Or can I install that on the drive and run it? Otherwise I'm not sure how to use it.
Thanks for your help.