Solved Need HDDErase That will work with SATA ...

[zapp22]

I have previously used Ultimate Boot CD with HDDErase to securely eliminate data from a SATA drive - that was on a Compaq minitower . no issues really other than having to hunt the utility after UBCD loaded some linux derivative.

but now i'm mystified. I have a HP DC7600 with a 250gb barracuda that was my daily driver win7 ultimate with all my very sensitive data etc and I"m getting it ready to sell.
the hdd and the dvd drive are on SATA headers/controller.
when I run ubcd [the same cd i used before] it does not attempt to load whatever linux that was, instead I have a text screen with a few choices for loading something - one of the free DOS's? anyway when I finally get to the HDDErase [also called Secure Erase] util, it barfs because nothing has identified the SATA hdd. If instead I browse the menu for some other utilities to use, several of them work just fine, finding the 250gb drive and the dvd like child's play.

anyone know of maybe a more robust bootable image that does have the HDDErase util?

i've tried setting/resetting the various options in bios to no avail. those options are pretty limited on this system.

 

[theog]

Try the clean all command prompt in this tutorial:.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

 

[zapp22]

i'm on my way now. moved the drive to another system i have and booted the ubcd - this time the utility could get to the hard drive - different bios implementation. its now running. thanks
If you're unfamiliar with HDDErase [secure erase] and Enhanced version, its an interesting story. the 'feature' has been in most ata type drives from major mftrs, but went neglected by the system makers

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/CmrrSecureEraseProtocols.pdf

 

[Corazon]

Glad to hear you solved the issue, albeit in a complicated way.

The easiest solution (for future reference) would have been to simply set the SATA controller to IDE mode in your BIOS, then boot the UBCD.

 

[zapp22]

did so. didn't work.

Glad to hear you solved the issue, albeit in a complicated way.

The easiest solution (for future reference) would have been to simply set the SATA controller to IDE mode in your BIOS, then boot the UBCD.

 

[flemur13013]

If you've got linux running you can zero-fill a partition (or disk) with this:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda

(replace /dev/sda with correct value; /dev/zero is fixed).

One problem might be that a linux boot CD might not have a "/dev/zero"

You can also use /dev/random rather than /dev/zero, but it's a lot slower.

 

[Corazon]

Ow. I see. That's surprising - I can only guess HDDErase uses some kind of unusual low-level access - I'm not sure, really.

 

[Golden]

For future reference, and other posters that might want to wipe their hard drives, all you need is clean and cleanall commands as theog mentioned. This is the definitive guide:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/172617-secure-erase-wipe-definition-methods.html

Regards,
Golden

 

[Devux]

I stick with DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke). http://www.dban.org/download It is a bootable CD that will overwrite the HDD with random data, if I remember correctly it uses a Mersenne twister algorithm to fill the hard drive, you can set the number of passes you want performed. Short of a sledge hammer, this is about as good as it gets. (In my own opinion anyway)

 

[zapp22]

For future reference, and other posters that might want to wipe their hard drives, all you need is clean and cleanall commands as theog mentioned. This is the definitive guide:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/172617-secure-erase-wipe-definition-methods.html

Regards,
Golden

it is not clear to me that the Clean All command executes the hard drive's internal Secure Erase process. If so, which one, and why is it not specifically cited? Nowhere is the exact type of regimen referred to, no specification is cited, and the exact methodology is not described. I personally would not trust it for sensitive drives/data. A lot of people use the term "secure erase" in a generic fashion and are not referring to that which is described in detail in the article I linked.

 

[Hopalong X]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html?ltr=D

8. To Use the Clean All Diskpart Command
NOTE: See the green INFO box at the top of the tutorial for more information about this command. This command will wipe the HDD, and perform a secure erase. However, it will take a long time to do. It's best to only use this command if you wanted to help make sure that the data on the HDD cannot be recovered say when giving or selling the HDD to another person.

A) In the elevated command prompt, type clean all and press Enter. You will see the command prompt below as is until the "clean all" command is finished. (see screenshot below)
​

NOTE: This will take quite some time (several hours or more) to finish depending on how large the disk is since it is writing over each and every sector on it to zero. Think of it as being like a full or low level format.
​

 

[zapp22]

that last comment is unwarranted. this is nothing like a format.
as a very long discussion on this forum amptly illustrates [with citations from professional journals, articles, blogs] formatting a HDD does not securely destroy data. To think otherwise is taking a huge risk if one does not want thieves recovering files.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html?ltr=D

8. To Use the Clean All Diskpart Command
NOTE: See the green INFO box at the top of the tutorial for more information about this command. This command will wipe the HDD, and perform a secure erase. However, it will take a long time to do. It's best to only use this command if you wanted to help make sure that the data on the HDD cannot be recovered say when giving or selling the HDD to another person.

A) In the elevated command prompt, type clean all and press Enter. You will see the command prompt below as is until the "clean all" command is finished. (see screenshot below)
​

NOTE: This will take quite some time (several hours or more) to finish depending on how large the disk is since it is writing over each and every sector on it to zero. Think of it as being like a full or low level format.
​

 

[Hopalong X]

No comment.

Clean all command writes zeros to the entire drive just like all the rest of them.

That is what you requested and that was what I was pointing out to your comment.

NOTE: This will take quite some time (several hours or more) to finish depending on how large the disk is since it is writing over each and every sector on it to zero.

Use what you wish but "clean all" will work also.
​

 

[zapp22]

fwiw, and for future fellow travelers: - Enhanced Secure Erase [which i think is drive-dependent] as follows [the utility put out by cmrr-ucsd supports]:
"CMRR has established minimum mandatory properties of an Enhanced Secure Erasure algorithm which provide
erasure security equivalent to most implementations of physical destruction and in a much shorter time. CMRR
specifies a minimum of two random data writes of all physical user sectors (including reassigned sectors),
where each write is offset off- track opposite to the other by at least 10% of the track pitch. The number of
physical sectors not successfully written should be reported, and any defective sectors which could not be written"

 

[Golden]

Zapp,

If you really aren't confident using the CLEAN ALL command from DISKPART, then the only other tool I would recommend is Mark Russinovich's SDELETE. It will run as many passes as you ask of it, and erases the data according to US DOD 5520.22-M standards.

The format from the command line is:

sdelete -p 1 -c d:\

where:
-p 1 = 1 pass
-c = clean free space
d:\ = drive letter

So, if you wanted to run 5 passes on drive H, it would be:

sdelete -p 5 -c h:\

Be warned, it will take many hours to run 1 pass on a 1TB 7200rpm disk. You can download sdelete from the sysinternals website here:

SDelete

Regards,
Golden

 

[Corazon]

I have to agree that a clean all in DiskPart is completely sufficient for making any and all data unrecoverable through software means, which means file or partition recovery software of any kind.

Beyond that, a truly secure erase using multiple passes only makes sense if you actually have a real concern that someone might physically disassemble your HD (which you can only do in a clean room like those in professional data recovery institutes) and then connect it to special hardware capable of directly grabbing the analog signal from the read/write heads and examining it for remnants that could be reconstructed to form the bits previously overwritten with zeroes. This isn't stuff an average consumer can get their hands on, unless they're filthy rich maybe.

Really, you'd have to have some kind of industrial secret worth millions of dollars or illegal financial records or military research or things like that to even consider this an actual risk worth worrying about.

A single-pass overwrite with zeroes is totally sufficient if you're just selling/donating your system containing the HD.

 

[Britton30]

An industrial drill press with a 1" bit will also securely erase any drive.

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

An industrial drill press with a 1" bit will also securely erase any drive.

If you have sufficient time/money/motivation/equipment, data can be recovered from a drive no matter the software solution used....but a thorough mechanical destruction can't be beat

 

[Anon2K12]

try using HDDGURU FreeWipe Tool....just google it , supports all hard-drives , might have to run it in emulation mode for what ever OS your using but otherwise it works

 

[zapp22]

try using HDDGURU FreeWipe Tool....just google it , supports all hard-drives , might have to run it in emulation mode for what ever OS your using but otherwise it works

I actually have used that one on light tasks, and read the underlying detail. Not sure it is as effective as Secure Erase - particularly the -Enhanced. Their low-level format util, however, seems to be solid, just understand that that tool does not address this subject