HDD format

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Kermil

Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Russia

Kermil 28 Feb 2007, 09:08

How Can I erase all data from HDD that nobody can recovery it? Program must work in running Windows XP or Window 2000. What is the method for deleting?

28 Feb 2007, 09:08

bogdanontanu

Joined: 07 Jan 2004
Posts: 403
Location: Sol. Earth. Europe. Romania. Bucuresti

bogdanontanu 28 Feb 2007, 11:43

The method is like this:

1) Carefully extract the HDD from the PC case.
2) Smash the HDD with a big hammer repeatedly until it turns into smaller pieces.
3) Put the HDD pieces into a open flame owen preheated at 2500 degrees Celsius
4) Leave the pieces cook for about 12 hours at 2000 degrees Celsius.
5)collect the ashes and disperse them over the ocean

This should do it.

Otherwise recovery specialists might still recover bits and pieces of information by using an electronic microscope or out of track reading equipment.

28 Feb 2007, 11:43

HyperVista

Joined: 18 Apr 2005
Posts: 691
Location: Virginia, USA

HyperVista 28 Feb 2007, 12:34

bogdanontanu - Laughing

, but so true!

Quote:

The method is like this:

1) Carefully extract the HDD from the PC case.
2) Smash the HDD with a big hammer repeatedly until it turns into smaller pieces.
3) Put the HDD pieces into a open flame owen preheated at 2500 degrees Celsius
4) Leave the pieces cook for about 12 hours at 2000 degrees Celsius.
5)collect the ashes and disperse them over the ocean

This should do it.

Here's an interesting article about some security firm purchasing hard drives and other memory devices on e-bay and analyzing them to find personal data.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4229550.stm

From this article:

Quote:

If users were worried about potentially sensitive data, said Mr Steggles, they should use a professional forensics firm to erase it

"Alternatively," he said "they could smash it to bits."

28 Feb 2007, 12:34

Kermil

Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Russia

Kermil 28 Feb 2007, 12:51

Guys, if I write some data over the existing data, the data has to disappear or am I wrong? What is the principle of operation of programs which secure clear the files?

28 Feb 2007, 12:51

Kermil

Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Russia

Kermil 28 Feb 2007, 12:56

Article is interesting, but as I understood all people didn't clear the data from HDD at all or they cleared partition table.

28 Feb 2007, 12:56

okasvi

Joined: 18 Aug 2005
Posts: 382
Location: Finland

okasvi 28 Feb 2007, 13:38

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

28 Feb 2007, 13:38

HyperVista

Joined: 18 Apr 2005
Posts: 691
Location: Virginia, USA

HyperVista 28 Feb 2007, 14:04

Quote:

Article is interesting, but as I understood all people didn't clear the data from HDD at all or they cleared partition table.

Kermil, that true. I thought it was funny that the concluding sentence echoes bogdanontanu's recommendation to totally destroy the hard disk for true security.

okasvi - the dban untility is very interesting, but I wonder if it will hold up to scanning electron microscope examination of the hard drive media after running the utility. This is the advanced forensic technique mentioned by bogdanontanu. It's very, VERY effective in recovering data from magnetic media, even if the data has been overwritten many many times and even smashed. Shocked

28 Feb 2007, 14:04

f0dder

Joined: 19 Feb 2004
Posts: 3175
Location: Denmark

f0dder 28 Feb 2007, 14:07

There still seems to be debate, though, just how viable the electron microscope "data recovery" is, and who (if any at all) can actually do it... not to mention that reconstruction would be an excessively slow and painful affair Smile

28 Feb 2007, 14:07

HyperVista

Joined: 18 Apr 2005
Posts: 691
Location: Virginia, USA

HyperVista 28 Feb 2007, 14:14

Quote:

There still seems to be debate, though, just how viable the electron microscope "data recovery" is, and who (if any at all) can actually do it... not to mention that reconstruction would be an excessively slow and painful affair

Yes. Very true. Usually only governments have the resources to mount such an analysis. And YES, it is absolutley a very slow and painful undertaking (counting and recording individual magnetic bands on the media - 1s and 0s lined up against one another). But in some cases, for the people involved in such activity, the pain is worth it.

28 Feb 2007, 14:14

Kermil

Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Russia

Kermil 28 Feb 2007, 14:26

Thanks, Guys. But main question remains, how to erase all data from HDD? We have runnging Windows XP. I know that we can use CreateFile function to get the access to logical disk. But how can I get access to partition table? Should I write driver or may be I can do this in user mode? Give some links on articles please. Thanks in advance.

28 Feb 2007, 14:26

LocoDelAssembly
Your code has a bug

Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 4624
Location: Argentina

LocoDelAssembly 28 Feb 2007, 14:36

CreateFile doc wrote:

Disk Devices
Windows NT: You can use the CreateFile function to open a disk drive or a partition on a disk drive. The function returns a handle to the disk device; that handle can be used with the DeviceIOControl function. The following requirements must be met in order for such a call to succeed:

· The caller must have administrative privileges for the operation to succeed on a hard disk drive.
· The lpFileName string should be of the form \\.\PHYSICALDRIVEx to open the hard disk x. Hard disk numbers start at zero. For example:

String Meaning
\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE2 Obtains a handle to the third physical drive on the user's computer.

· The lpFileName string should be \\.\x: to open a floppy drive x or a partition x on a hard disk. For example:

String Meaning
\\.\A: Obtains a handle to drive A on the user's computer.
\\.\C: Obtains a handle to drive C on the user's computer.

28 Feb 2007, 14:36

Kermil

Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Russia

Kermil 28 Feb 2007, 14:42

Thanks. But if you remember we have running Windows XP. What is the behavior of Windows if I will write zeros to the Windows partition. How can I complete erasing of data properly?

28 Feb 2007, 14:42

LocoDelAssembly
Your code has a bug

Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 4624
Location: Argentina

LocoDelAssembly 28 Feb 2007, 14:51

Windows XP is NT based so \\.\PHYSICALDRIVEx works but you will probably need apart of the requirements listed above, be able to lock the drive too. If you are planning to erase the hard drive where Windows runs then I think you will not be able to lock it, but if you want to erase a secondary drive then I think it could work (as chkdsk can).

Another possibility could be some reverse engineering of the disk manager to see how it can modify the MBR Smile

(perhaps some native app helper that runs at boot?)

28 Feb 2007, 14:51

Kermil

Joined: 26 Oct 2005
Posts: 35
Location: Russia

Kermil 28 Feb 2007, 14:57

Thanks.

28 Feb 2007, 14:57

tantrikwizard

Joined: 13 Dec 2006
Posts: 142

tantrikwizard 28 Feb 2007, 20:44

Kermil wrote:

Thanks. But if you remember we have running Windows XP. What is the behavior of Windows if I will write zeros to the Windows partition. How can I complete erasing of data properly?

Grab any bootable linux distro CD and type

Code:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hd??

where the first ? in hd?? is the hard drive letter starting at a and the second ? is the partition number of the drive. e.g. /dev/hdc3 = 3rd partition on 3rd hard drive. ommit the partition number to wipe the whole drive. (hda1 = 1st drive 1st partition, hdb1 = 2nd drive 1st parition)

28 Feb 2007, 20:44

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