[SOLVED] File names still visible after 3 pass disk wipe

[kaotik123]

Hello,
So I have a 3tb sata mechanical HDD I would like to wipe. It's connected as a separate drive on my motherboard not through USB. I have wiped the drive using the 3 pass algorithm, however my data recovery program still finds the filenames (although can't seem to recover the files or data itself). I assume it's just pulling info from the MFT and not actual data. But is there any way to overwrite or scramble the MFT? I have used both DiskWipe and Eraser to wipe the drives on Windows 10.
Thanks.

 

[rgd1101]

https://dban.org/

 

[kaotik123]

Is there any info you can link me to that states dban will overwrite mft entries? I can't seem to find any on their website

 

[popatim]

It should, it works on a sector basis not on the files themselves.

DoD short should suffice since the files themselves are already scrambled..

 

[mdd1963]

CCleaner has a wipe MFT Freespace option, which, for a freshly formatted drive, should overwrite everything...(Within Options/settings, there is a 'Secure Erase, which deletes MFT entries as well..)
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-...ft-clean-to-prevent-recovery-of-deleted-files

If that fails...
Delete the Windows partition(s) entirely, and write a Linux file system, and lots of useless data to it...

Then delete the 'unknown file structure' as would be seen in during a WIndows install, then do your data recovery search....

 

[mdd1963]

Some more info on MFT that implies CCleaner can get to it...
https://www.trishtech.com/2020/01/how-to-clean-mft-master-file-table-on-ntfs-drives/

 

[mdd1963]

Additionally, RevoUninstaller has a free portable version which has an "Evidence Remover" option that attacks the MFT; a few folks said it then prevented Recuva from finding those prior references...

 

[kaotik123]

Thanks for all your help.
So I tried CCleaner with wipe MFT option and it didn't work.
I tried another program called Privazer which claimed to do the same thing and didn't work.
DBAN seems to be the only thing that worked. My recovery program (GetDataBack) couldn't even find an NTFS partition so I assume that's good and that everything has been wiped.

 

[rgd1101]

Thanks for all your help.
So I tried CCleaner with wipe MFT option and it didn't work.
I tried another program called Privazer which claimed to do the same thing and didn't work.
DBAN seems to be the only thing that worked. My recovery program (GetDataBack) couldn't even find an NTFS partition so I assume that's good and that everything has been wiped.

Thank for the update.

 

[popatim]

Great to hear!