Is there a way to completely erase data from drives?

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Ralf Jan 1, 2024 @ 8:05am

I have some older small drives, HDD, SSD and thumb drive that I don't use anymore, some of them have bad sectors and such. Is there any way to completely erase every data on it?

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Showing 1-15 of 44 comments

_I_ Jan 1, 2024 @ 8:11am

dban
single pass is quick and easy

PopinFRESH Jan 1, 2024 @ 8:20am

Originally posted by _I_:
dban
single pass is quick and easy

the old DBAN has been dead for many years and Darik sold it to Blancco who still markets it as their free "personal" edition of their Drive Eraser program.

https://dban.org/

@OP, if you are actually trying to prevent potential recovery of whatever data is on those drives then you'll want to use one of the multi-pass wipe options with random data which will take quite a bit longer depending on the disk size.

If you just want to wipe it clean and don't care about the potential for data recovery then a single pass will nuke the whole disk with zeros.

DevaVictrix Jan 1, 2024 @ 8:22am

I tend to go for secure-erase with hdparm.

Whichever method you choose, just do a full disk encryption afterwards so whatever bits might be left are scrambled.

Last edited by DevaVictrix; Jan 1, 2024 @ 8:27am

Sanctuary Jan 1, 2024 @ 8:23am

Originally posted by Ralf:
I have some older small drives, HDD, SSD and thumb drive that I don't use anymore, some of them have bad sectors and such. Is there any way to completely erase every data on it?

To make sure that data won't be recovered, better overwrite it with randomly generated noise. google on how to do that

Supafly Jan 1, 2024 @ 9:46am

I just use windows command prompt to flood it with random bits

format x1: /P:x2

Change x1 to drive letter to format then change x2 to number of passes to perform to write random number to every part of the disk before formating.

Example

format D: /P:1
format D: /P:2

emoticorpse Jan 1, 2024 @ 9:47am

Fill it up with something else?

RMJ Jan 1, 2024 @ 10:08am

FACEPALM!!!!!!!!!!!

Just do a Quick format this erases All ,exe- .Read info . So Nothing is access able
If your scared of 'GHOSTS = facepalm! Just do a full format as it writes "O's" on the entire drive so it is completely clear.

There is absolutly no reason to use another "proggy" to do this/ Even if you are a writer of trojans- viruses....... WAKE up people!

I have so many old Drives been working with PC'a since 1978. Even have an old "BIG FOOT" wheel drive Yes those old huge things And it still works with a PIN to USB adapter.But there is no point to using it. Same with some older wheel drives as some are just to slow, Unless you wanna just let it run all night as you fill it up for backing up. Just to have alot of redundant back ups- I HAVE MANY!

So many get on here and pretending, yet have no clue them selves!

Supafly Jan 1, 2024 @ 10:10am

Originally posted by RMJ:
FACEPALM!!!!!!!!!!!

Just do a Quick format this erases All ,exe- .Read info . So Nothing is access able
If your scared of 'GHOSTS = facepalm! Just do a full format as it writes "O's" on the entire drive so it is completely clear.

There is absolutly no reason to use another "proggy" to do this/ Even if you are a writer of trojans- viruses....... WAKE up people!

I have so many old Drives been working with PC'a since 1978. Even have an old "BIG FOOT" wheel drive Yes those old huge things And it still works with a PIN to USB adapter.But there is no point to using it. Same with some older wheel drives as some are just to slow, Unless you wanna just let it run all night as you fill it up for backing up. Just to have alot of redundant back ups- I HAVE MANY!

So many get on here and pretending, yet have no clue them selves!

All a format does is delete the references/pointers to the data whilst leaving the data fully intact. Plenty of ways to recover data after a simple format.

Haruspex Jan 1, 2024 @ 10:27am

Go ham with a power drill.

Cathulhu Jan 1, 2024 @ 10:48am

https://www.diskpart.com/help/ssd-secure-erase.html

Just use Secure Erase, a feature all SSDs have. Just ignore the performance plug, which is just nonsense.

Otherwise, if you have to make sure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dR5lbF5-wo

Last edited by Cathulhu; Jan 1, 2024 @ 10:49am

#10

Omega Jan 1, 2024 @ 11:00am

HDDs you can zero out. On mac and Linux this can be done with dd, on Windows you can perform a full/slow format. No need for third party malware.

SSDs can either be wiped then trimmed or use secure erase. The second option is often not supported on cheap drives, the first is also not always an option on very old drives.

#11

PopinFRESH Jan 1, 2024 @ 11:09am

Originally posted by RMJ:
...
Just do a Quick format this erases All ,exe- .Read info...

Change in the behavior of the format command in Windows Vista and later versions[learn.microsoft.com]

Originally posted by Microsoft:
...
In the on-demand scenario, zeros don't have to be written to the whole disk because the volume storage provider initializes the on-demand-allocated data. To avoid causing unnecessary on-demand-allocation, you must use the quick format option.
...

Weird how Microsoft specifically says you are wrong...

Secondly, even if quick format did write zeros to the whole disk; for magnetic mediums, data can still be recovered after a single pass of overwriting it with zeros.

Originally posted by RMJ:
So many get on here and pretending, yet have no clue them selves!

Were you looking in a mirror while typing this?

#12

Ralf Jan 1, 2024 @ 12:43pm

Originally posted by Omega:
HDDs you can zero out. On Windows you can perform a full/slow format. No need for third party malware.

Thanks. I have this old Samsung HDD that can only be formated by disk management, but for some reason it only lets me use around half it's size. Is there any way to wipe the data from the unusable space?

#13