Which Utility to "Erase" or Wipe external HD

[tidybear12]

I am returning a Seagate portable back up drive that I'm disappointed in.



Unfortunately, instead of reading first on how to TRULY get rid of the one folder on it in such a way that it can't be retrieved, I simply deleted it and reformatted the drive. But that's not enough, I learned.



So I now have the Eraser from Portable Apps. But it tells me that (and the drive now has nothing on it, to the naked eye, maybe that's the problem?) it "failed to determine cluster size, and failed to create temporary file in that drive. So, it didn't do anything.


Is there a utility that will wipe this drive at this point? I tried DiskWipe, but it is extremely time consuming. It took about 8 hours just to reformat, and then I moved my laptop by a tiny smidgen and the reformatting was aborted because now the file was lost. It was at that point 82% done. After 8 hours. (in their user guide they talk about the "Fast format option" but they must have updated the app because there is no choice about the formatting speed.)


Any suggestions? I also downloaded the Eraser from Heidi Software but it doesn't come as a portable and I am nervous that it's the kind of app that might have a mind of its own. Anyone used this on an external drive? (I think this one is a shredder whereas the other things mentioned are wipers. Not sure if this matters.)



Has anyone used SafeWiper?

 

[Paul Black]

Hi tidybear12,

I am pretty sure that you can use DISKPART clean all in Windows 10, but I am not sure if you can in Windows 7!

I hope this helps!

 

[tidybear12]

Thanks Paul. I think it IS usable with Win7 though I never got around to it. There is actually a stunning number of utilities that wipe/erase anything you want. Not all are created equal!

 

[Snick]

CCleaner free has a wipe feature up to GUTMAN 35 passes, although two or three should suffice!

 

[file3456]

CCleaner free has a wipe feature up to GUTMAN 35 passes, although two or three should suffice!

I ran their tool, then ran Recuva and was still able to retrieve my data. YMMV.

 

[file3456]

I am returning a Seagate portable back up drive that I'm disappointed in.



Unfortunately, instead of reading first on how to TRULY get rid of the one folder on it in such a way that it can't be retrieved, I simply deleted it and reformatted the drive. But that's not enough, I learned.



So I now have the Eraser from Portable Apps. But it tells me that (and the drive now has nothing on it, to the naked eye, maybe that's the problem?) it "failed to determine cluster size, and failed to create temporary file in that drive. So, it didn't do anything.


Is there a utility that will wipe this drive at this point? I tried DiskWipe, but it is extremely time consuming. It took about 8 hours just to reformat, and then I moved my laptop by a tiny smidgen and the reformatting was aborted because now the file was lost. It was at that point 82% done. After 8 hours. (in their user guide they talk about the "Fast format option" but they must have updated the app because there is no choice about the formatting speed.)


Any suggestions? I also downloaded the Eraser from Heidi Software but it doesn't come as a portable and I am nervous that it's the kind of app that might have a mind of its own. Anyone used this on an external drive? (I think this one is a shredder whereas the other things mentioned are wipers. Not sure if this matters.)



Has anyone used SafeWiper?

Is this a SSD or platter?

You may have already wrote data over the previous folder data already. You can try Recuva and see if anything is recovered, but if you are really super paranoid, Recuva might not be as good enough. I mean, a crime lab probably has waaaay better solutions.

You could try Trucrypt, select the drive for encryption (make damn sure it's the right drive letter) and encrypt with the erase free space option. Prior to this I'd use H2testw to write data to the entire drive, then encrypt the drive. Now simply format. Data is gone.

Or pull a Clinton. Download | BleachBit

(Not being political so don't pull on my cape)

 

[Snick]

If you use CCleaner, you have to click the Entire Drive, several passes!

 

[file3456]

Been there done that. Have you ran Recuva afterwards? I'm curious about your results.

I've read that all those passes aren't necessary.

 

[Paul Black]

Hi tidybear12,

CCleaner free has a wipe feature up to GUTMAN 35 passes, although two or three should suffice!

Just for information!

I think if anybody decides to wipe their HDD then there are several methods available. I definately would use CCleaner with the GUTMAN 35 passes and DISKPART clean all. I have used CCleaner with the GUTMAN 35 passes on my FREE HDD space, and I have never had a problem with it! Because it takes a while to run I usually do it overnight.

 

[Snick]

I didn't suggest/recommend GUTMAN. I stated it was available.
Usually a few passes 3-7 etc. works, which writes 1s and 0s to the disk. Gutman, 35 passes on say a 1TB drive would take a very long time.
I'd run the 7 passes. If your drive is SSD or Flash, it's a different ball game.
SSD drives difficult to wipe securely, researchers find
Nic

 

[file3456]

I've read that with SSDs you want to use Parted magic. I was in a discussion about this in another topic, but I kept getting hit with constant 'why?' questions and I was like just take it for what it's worth and believe what I have read to probably be true. Then promptly unwatched the thread. I don't play the constant tit for tat game on forums. Been there done that and I've learned I'm not going to change anyone's mind. I've found many people clinch onto their beliefs as if its set in stone and the one and only universal truth.

About Ccleaner, I have ran it to wipe free space and once it was done I ran Recuva and it found all kinds of files and folders that were once deleted looooong ago. This was my personal experience and YMMV of course. If you are someone that wants to delete free space, then you might as well just whole disk encrypt the computer. This is what I do so I don't have to worry about wiping free space at all. Anything that gets deleted was already encrypted to begin with.

I guess it might sound a little paranoid on my part, but if the software is there free to use, why not use it? Especially given the fact I'm a computer nerd and I'd rather like to not have my data stolen should my laptop or desktop get stolen. Especially the laptop that's portable.


Like I mentioned in my first post. Just run H2testw which will fill the HDD with data and then encrypt it all then format. Data is more than likely unrecoverable. Well, to SOHO would be "hackers" that might be interested if there was data on the drive. Or take it up a notch and run Bleachbit.

You can't run normal wipe methods on a SSD however. You could, but the NAND will suffer greatly. And Ccleaner has now been coded where it won't allow you to run their wipe method if it detects you're using a SSD. Older versions may allow it and you can find those older versions at oldapps.com or oldversion.com

With SSDs, and if you're paranoid about your data, I would install the OS and then straight away encrypt it. Now add your data to it and do what ever. It says right there in black in white in the Truecrypt manual about this. This would also apply to using any other form of flash media like USB drives or SD cards.

 

[hazel123]

I tend to use Parted Magic - write zeros to disk using dd. Probably just the same as the others - writing zeros to the drive. One pass is supposed to be ok. Have also found that recuva can sometimes retrieve things but when I checked they are illegible usually. Just took 2 and a half hours to wipe a 280gb drive with one pass You might need to do 3 passes to be sure nothing can be retrieved and then check with recuva again. Parted Magic might give you the option to do more than one pass anyway.


There is also an "external erase" secure erase setting for ssd's - I've never managed to get it to work! It always comes up saying "password frozen". I believe there's a fix for this - pressing the sleep button to unfreeze it. That didn't work for me though last time.


You just go the parted magic website and burn it to a usb stick - a small one (mine's on a 2gb stick) - it's not free but only about $3. Has some useful tools on and you can check your disk health on it as well.

 

[hazel123]

Just been using Parted Magic. The options for "external" erase (ie for standard hard drives) include - filling the disk with zeros (which I tend to use to clean a disk if going to reinstalling - does seem to speed things up and it's like a new drive afterwards) and nwipe - which is apparently the same as dban and is a fork of the software - does the same thing. For that one you just follow the basic instructions at the bottom of the page that's loaded (ie select the drive, select the Dod short (3 passes) and select the key to start it. It takes a long time - maybe 5 hours - depending on the size of the drive.


I use the nwipe when I've bought a used laptop and am wiping the drive to sell it on (to protect the previous owner and the new owner). If I sell my own laptops though I'm belt and braces and remove the drive!


Error above - it's "internal" erase for ssd's.