formating?

[Bipin]

I know this might be the wrong forum but i couldn't think of where to put it, so here's the problem. ok, my computer basically has a ton of junk on it that i can't get rid of. don't ask about it, thats not the problem. the problem is that i basically jus wanna wipe out my drives to get rid of all of it, and just start over again. i think this is done by formatting, and i kinda know how to do that, but i don't know the specifications exactly: will it get ride of the operating systems? wat do i put as the settings? wat exactly does it do?

[Craige]

Open CMD Prompt, and type
format c:\

that will wipe drive c:\, you can replace c with whatever drive you want to format. once it has finished formatting, insert the windows disk (im assuming windows) when it starts back up again. you can probably figure out the rest from there. its pretty self explaining.

[Bipin]

o, i c, so windows supports the formatting and lets u re-setup windows after you've formatted, am i getting it?

[Jessii]

At 6/23/05 07:56 PM, Bipin wrote: o, i c, so windows supports the formatting and lets u re-setup windows after you've formatted, am i getting it?

I've never done a reformat but I believe that you need to reinstall EVERYTHING after you do a format. Formatting wipes the hard drive clean. There may be a way to protect certain things (like if you have a C drive and a D drive, then you can install windows on the D drive and wipe C clean or vis versa).

[thoughtpolice]

Actually, formatting a drive doesn't really `remove' the contents of the drive, like C for example. They're still all there.

If you're formatting your drive for reasons like you don't wanna get busted for shit, there are plenty of people and programs that can recover lost data, even after a reformat, there aren't many ways to completely get rid of a HDD's content.

[Kings-Cant-Fall]

At 6/23/05 08:53 PM, Sinnernaut wrote: there aren't many ways to completely get rid of a HDD's content.

Safest bet is to light that shit on fire and run over it a few times.

[thoughtpolice]

At 6/23/05 08:58 PM, TCStyle wrote: Safest bet is to light that shit on fire and run over it a few times.

... That might be effective but won't totally do it if you ask me.

The one absolute way I can think of doing it is just attaching thermite and lighting it, that will for sure do the shit. Standard fire won't cut it, and running it over will just break it into pieces, thermite will completely vaporize it.

[Goose31]

At 6/23/05 08:53 PM, Sinnernaut wrote: If you're formatting your drive for reasons like you don't wanna get busted for shit, there are plenty of people and programs that can recover lost data, even after a reformat, there aren't many ways to completely get rid of a HDD's content.

What about the 'ole 'Magnet-to-the-harddrive' trick?

[Goose31]

At 6/23/05 08:53 PM, Sinnernaut wrote: If you're formatting your drive for reasons like you don't wanna get busted for shit, there are plenty of people and programs that can recover lost data, even after a reformat, there aren't many ways to completely get rid of a HDD's content.

What about the 'ole 'Magnet-to-the-harddrive' trick?

[BitMonkey]

Just for interest's sake, I'd like to follow up on that comment about how formatting doesn't delete the entire contents:

Somewhere in the first few sectors of your hard drive (really of each partition) lives the File Allocation Table. This table tells your computer where to find each file so it can be read. When you format the drive you wipe the FAT, but leave all the data there. I don't know the nature fo your predicament, but the actual data is not very difficult at all to recover (with the proper tools). If this data is of a... sensitive nature... I would recommend grabbing a copy of Darik's Boot and Nuke (dban.sf.net, maybe? Have a look on SourceForge). Pop the floppy in and type autonuke and go get some coffee, while every bit on your hard drive is overwritten with a 0 :)

[HalfAssed]

At 6/23/05 08:53 PM, Sinnernaut wrote: Actually, formatting a drive doesn't really `remove' the contents of the drive, like C for example. They're still all there.

If you're formatting your drive for reasons like you don't wanna get busted for shit, there are plenty of people and programs that can recover lost data, even after a reformat, there aren't many ways to completely get rid of a HDD's content.

For a standard drive, if you completely overwrite the entire drive at least seven times with alternating bit patterns, no original data can be recovered even by hardware recovery techniques.

[AntiangelicAngel]

Remember to backup all your apps on CD if you no longer have a disk, and backup and compositions, illustrations, or animations you may want to keep.

[Craige]

here are some more ways to destroy your HD

http://mustywindows.com/videos/details.php?id=363

[thoughtpolice]

Deleting files just removes the reference in the FAT, yes. Overwriting won't really do it.

There is really only one way to completely make your stuff unrecoverable (well, a well known trustable method anyways,) while still keeping your hardware in tact: The Gutmann Erase (also known as The Gutmann Method.) Which I particularly suggest you all look up. I don't know about the integrity of HalfAsseds' comment and execution, but The Gutmann Erase is pretty much proven to make it impossible to recover data, and it does a hell of a lot more than just overwrite the drive with alternating bit patterns about 7 times.

Try 35 times, 8 times of which are random (first four and last four passes), and the rest are in a pattern approved by Peter Gutmann himself.

[HalfAssed]

At 6/25/05 09:35 AM, Sinnernaut wrote: Try 35 times, 8 times of which are random (first four and last four passes), and the rest are in a pattern approved by Peter Gutmann himself.

7 full overwrites is the DoD specified minimum to completely destroy all information on a drive. The Gutmann Method definately works, but it is overkill.

[thoughtpolice]

At 6/25/05 10:44 AM, HalfAssed wrote: 7 full overwrites is the DoD specified minimum to completely destroy all information on a drive. The Gutmann Method definately works, but it is overkill.

Oh please, you know everybody loves overkill. :D

[Sar-Casm]

At 6/25/05 10:44 AM, HalfAssed wrote:

At 6/25/05 09:35 AM, Sinnernaut wrote: Try 35 times, 8 times of which are random (first four and last four passes), and the rest are in a pattern approved by Peter Gutmann himself.

7 full overwrites is the DoD specified minimum to completely destroy all information on a drive. The Gutmann Method definately works, but it is overkill.

Dr Gutmann (presumably) doesn't agree (read the introduction).

[Sar-Casm]

A little research uncovered the following:

Q: Is the Gutmann method the best method?

A: No.

Most of the passes in the Gutmann wipe are designed to flip the bits in MFM/RLL encoded disks, which is an encoding that modern hard disks do not use.

In a followup to his paper, Gutmann said that it is unnecessary to run those passes because you cannot be reasonably certain about how a modern hard disk stores data on the platter. If the encoding is unknown, then writing random patterns is your best strategy.

In particular, Gutmann says that "in the time since this paper was published, some people have treated the 35-pass overwrite technique described in it more as a kind of voodoo incantation to banish evil spirits than the result of a technical analysis of drive encoding techniques. As a result, they advocate applying the voodoo to PRML and EPRML drives even though it will have no more effect than a simple scrubbing with random data... For any modern PRML/EPRML drive, a few passes of random scrubbing is the best you can do".

[HalfAssed]

So we're back to the DoD standard of 7 passes which works just fine.