"Data Shredding" vs DiskPart Clean All

paulf22 · 12 Jul 2016

Hello All

I recently upgraded a friends notebook from a spinner to an SSD, and shredded the data on the spinner with a 7 Pass MilSpec scheme, as it contained a lot of personal/business financial info etc.

The spinner was 512GB, and it took days to complete the wipe... File Slacks, Temp Files, Free Space, and the data itself.

She has now dug out 3(!) obsolete notebooks she had tucked away and asked if I can e-waste them for her through my office... no problem. I've pulled the drives, which, once again, are full of financial info etc.

As far as wiping these drives are concerned, do you think it's best to stick with the detailed MilSpec wipe, or would running them through the DiskPart Clean All command a couple of times each be okay?

Thanks
Paul

Layback Bear · 12 Jul 2016

Who is going to have possession of these drives once they are wiped?

The reason I ask; very few people have the ability to gather anything off a wiped drive. Some government agency's may be able to. It's kind of a hit and miss process.

Personally if I had drives that information on them that needed 7 passes I would just destroy the drives and buy new ones.

When I do wipe drives I use the DiskPart Clean All cmd.

paulf22 · 12 Jul 2016

Hi Layback

These are 3 old 2.5" notebook drives - one has an IDE connection! - 500GB, 320GB, and 250GB respectively.

Neither my friend nor I have any use for them, so once they're wiped they'll go into the e-waste bin at the office.

As I said, these drives contain a LOT of her personal financial information, bank records, investments, tax returns, business transactions etc.

Do you think running them through the DiskPart Clean All command a few times is enough?

Thanks
Paul

Layback Bear · 13 Jul 2016

Not knowing exactly what methods your e-waste bin is handled I really can't help you their.
Who ever picks up your e-waste might try to use the drives again or sell them.

If I had to solve the problem you are engaged in I would wipe them once and then physically destroy the drives. A very big hammer, chain saw, C-4 or the like.

LMiller7 · 13 Jul 2016

A single pass of DiskPart clean all would be proof against all software recovery methods. Multiple passes are insurance "just in case". A government security agency may be able to recover data from such a drive but this has been denied. I believe such methods are more theoretical than real.

Many organizations mandate physical destruction of drives before disposal. This is for practical reasons. Physical destruction is simple to do, takes little time, and the results are easily verified. How do you verify a disk wipe has actually been done?

paulf22 · 13 Jul 2016

Yeah, I'm assuming the e-waste bin is not exactly 100% "secure" as far as disposing of the drives is concerned hence the original question.

Unfortunately I'm fresh out of C-4, so an initial run through with DiskPart Clean All and then a meeting with a very big hammer will be the order of the day!

Thanks Guys! :)