I have several used HD I want to sell, but I want to format them in such away that they are still usable but the data is completely gone. I thought that formatting and de-selecting "quick format" so it takes a very long time to format, might be an option. But I really do not know. Anyone know how to do this such that I don't need to buy software to do it?
Question How can make data on a hard drive not recoverable in order to sell?
- Thread starter caliskier
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- Mar 16, 2013
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Assuming not the OS drive, a Full Format in File Explorer will do it.
If it WAS the OS drive, the commandline function diskpart, and the /clean command.
Thanks, some are the OS drive and some are not.
What is a "Full Format"
What do you mean by:
- Mar 16, 2013
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Full Format == unselect 'Quick Format'.
For the commandline thing, these:
How to Format a Hard Drive Using the Command Prompt
You can clean internal and external hard drives using the command prompt by following our instructions.
www.tomshardware.com
How to Diskpart Erase/Clean a Drive Through the Command Prompt | Support Seagate US
This article explains the Microsoft Diskpart Erase utility. The command that erases the drive during this process is "Clean". In this article "Clean" and erase are used interchangeably. Cleaning or erasing a storage device removes all data and partitions from the drive.
www.seagate.com
Using Diskpart to create, delete, clean or extend disk partitions | TechTarget
Learn how to perform a successful diskpart delete partition operation among other disk-related jobs administrators should know with this Windows utility.
- Oct 15, 2014
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i'm a bit more paranoid and prefer to go ahead and write it to zeros to ensure 100% data destruction 
i use https://www.harddriveeraser.org/ to do it. easy to use and free
you can pick multiple methods from DOD standard to crazy "write over it 100 times" type options. this writes random data to every sector on the drive more than once so nothing but 1's and 0's gibberish is left.
i use https://www.harddriveeraser.org/ to do it. easy to use and free
you can pick multiple methods from DOD standard to crazy "write over it 100 times" type options. this writes random data to every sector on the drive more than once so nothing but 1's and 0's gibberish is left.
- Mar 16, 2013
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I did a test of this a couple weeks ago.i'm a bit more paranoid and prefer to go ahead and write it to zeros to ensure 100% data destruction
i use https://www.harddriveeraser.org/ to do it. easy to use and free
you can pick multiple methods from DOD standard to crazy "write over it 100 times" type options. this writes random data to every sector on the drive more than once so nothing but 1's and 0's gibberish is left.
3TB HDD, 1.97TB data on it. Varying file sizes, tiny to large.
Simple "Full Format" in File Explorer.
After...
Deep Scan with Recuva.
0 files recovered
Full scan with Autopsy.
Initially, it reported "2733 files found"
Took 36+ hours for the scan to run.
Result - zero files recovered. Not even fragments.
Nothing. Nada. Zip.
- Oct 15, 2014
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Still begs the question out of my curiosity as a true crime enthusiast... I've seen many cases where people are convicted for whatever crime they may have been accused of due to digital evidence that has been "recovered" from a computer.
So are all these people just stupid and are just deleting files and then emptying the recycle bin thinking the files will never be seen again instead of doing the above steps to securely wipe their data?
I'm just curious... you don't have to answer. I truly am wondering if these "forensic computer experts" can actually recover files if someone uses the method you just described to wipe their data.
- Mar 16, 2013
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Yes, no one actually does a Full Format. A 3TB HDD takes several hours.Still begs the question out of my curiosity as a true crime enthusiast... I've seen many cases where people are convicted for whatever crime they may have been accused of due to digital evidence that has been "recovered" from a computer.
So are all these people just stupid and are just deleting files and then emptying the recycle bin thinking the files will never be seen again instead of doing the above steps to securely wipe their data?
I'm just curious... you don't have to answer. I truly am wondering if these "forensic computer experts" can actually recover files if someone uses the method you just described to wipe their data.
"I clicked delete, surely thats good enuff, rite?"
And if there were actual 'evidence' of a crime on the drive, and you had that "several hours"...a semi smart criminal would just take the drive out and apply a little percussive deletion.
Plus, the ones you see on TV are on TV because it makes for good TV.
You don't see the ones where they got no data from it.
- Mar 16, 2013
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But...if you had the only known plans for a working cold fusion reactor, and were the target of the NSA/FSB/GCHQ...all bets are off.
Blitz Hacker
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- Jul 17, 2015
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Generally speaking a full format will make it difficult to recover files. Depending on the data contents. If it's trade secrets or whatever (generally they would have those destroyed and never resold) but you would delete all partitions on the drive.. Create a new partition that encompassed all free space.. then use a DOD wipe on the entire drive. This does take some time to do, but doesn't require user interaction. https://prosoftpedia.com/barts-pe-builder/ something like a bartPE disk would beable to do it if I recall. It's free and just requires either a local decompression or ideally a bootable usb drive .. depending on the wipe and number of passes you run on the hard drive it can take several hours to several days in some extreme cases.
- Dec 26, 2012
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All data, whether file or folder, has an address on the drive. Format doesn't actually 'erase' or delete anything, it just removes the address so that an OS cannot access it anymore, it's address is listed as free space. If you use recovery software, it'll pull a listing of all those files almost always listed as $$, so autoexec.bat would be $$toexec.$$$. If you can replace the $$ accurately, you recover the file, it gets a new address.
Overwriting the drive, such as the DOD etc writing 0's over the data, will change the file data as it was and even if a format and recover software is used all you'd get is $$0000.$$$ which is impossible to recover.
Overwriting the drive, such as the DOD etc writing 0's over the data, will change the file data as it was and even if a format and recover software is used all you'd get is $$0000.$$$ which is impossible to recover.
- Oct 15, 2014
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I've learned over the years to read between the lines. Often what is not said is as important as what is said. I'm sure average attempts at recovering files can be foiled with various methods. I don't doubt what is posted here. But I also know the agencies that often attempt to recover data requires DOD wipes or better for their own info destruction and suggest the same to the rest of the gov.
This tells me they know something I don't and most likely what they know is how to recover this data that average users can't. Otherwise they'd not waste their time with it and would not be telling others to do it.
Does the average person need to worry about this? Not really, but it's still good to know that most likely if someone truly wanted to recover it, then it is vulnerable without the extra steps to know for sure it's gone.
So just for my personal preference I go with DOD wipe just in case whatever the gov knows, is common knowledge in the more insidious parts of the pc world.
This tells me they know something I don't and most likely what they know is how to recover this data that average users can't. Otherwise they'd not waste their time with it and would not be telling others to do it.
Does the average person need to worry about this? Not really, but it's still good to know that most likely if someone truly wanted to recover it, then it is vulnerable without the extra steps to know for sure it's gone.
So just for my personal preference I go with DOD wipe just in case whatever the gov knows, is common knowledge in the more insidious parts of the pc world.
Makes sense!
Good to know... and thanks for the formatting tips.
I’ve actually decided to go ahead and dump my 2 media storage HDDs (12TB and 10TB) in favor of a pair of large capacity SSDS (Samsung 870 QVO 8TB is currently $420) and I'll definitely be going the full format route for the HDDs prior to sale.
All my SSDs will be Samsung and easy to manage with Magician. The QVO drives will be nice replacements for the HDDs.
i'm a bit more paranoid and prefer to go ahead and write it to zeros to ensure 100% data destruction
i use https://www.harddriveeraser.org/ to do it. easy to use and free
you can pick multiple methods from DOD standard to crazy "write over it 100 times" type options. this writes random data to every sector on the drive more than once so nothing but 1's and 0's gibberish is left.
I'm actually doing this DOD erase now on my 12TB drive. I'm setting up the new SSDs tomorrow and once that's done I'll do the same with the other HDD.
Thanks for the link.
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