Question:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – <snip, snap, snup Formatting won’t get rid of information. You will need to fdisk and delete the active partition and create a new one. Then you can format the disk. I would go even further and COMPLETELY refill the drive with useless files and then format again. This way if the person who buys the computers from you can’t use an undelete program to recover your personal files. If they did, all they would get would be the useless files you filled it with before you re-formatted it. Just a thought… Dave Actually, I’ve got a program that will recover files from a HDD that has been fdisked/formatted/reloaded with different files (at least twice, before I did a recovery). I had to do the recovery to get back a client’s files from the slave HDD that Compaq’s recovery disk decided needed to be loaded as the master disk. Most of them were in usable/recognizable format, too. Granted, I haven’t tried the recovery program on a HDD that has been through Norton’s Security wipe feature, but I’m sure that time will come. — No doubt, but the average Joe isn’t going to have such a program, I don’t think. Dave Depends on where the average Joe hangs out, too…. <g — Rome wasn’t built in a day. Nor was Dothan, Alabama. —–BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK—– Version: 3.1 GIT/MC/SS d– s–:+ a C++ !U P L++(+) E—- W+++(–) N+++ !o K- w+$ !O M– !V PS+ PE++ Y+ PGP t 5 X– R*(+) tv+ b++++ DI++++ D– G e+* h(+) r x+- ——END GEEK CODE BLOCK——
What’s this "Geek Code Block" that you have at the end of your posts, is it something that is helpful to stop spammers or hackers, or is it just something you do as like a signature? If it *is* something helpful, can I copy and use it myself? Rusty
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – <snip, snap, snup Formatting won’t get rid of information. You will need to fdisk and delete the active partition and create a new one. Then you can format the disk. I would go even further and COMPLETELY refill the drive with useless files and then format again. This way if the person who buys the computers from you can’t use an undelete program to recover your personal files. If they did, all they would get would be the useless files you filled it with before you re-formatted it. Just a thought… Dave Actually, I’ve got a program that will recover files from a HDD that has been fdisked/formatted/reloaded with different files (at least twice, before I did a recovery). I had to do the recovery to get back a client’s files from the slave HDD that Compaq’s recovery disk decided needed to be loaded as the master disk. Most of them were in usable/recognizable format, too. Granted, I haven’t tried the recovery program on a HDD that has been through Norton’s Security wipe feature, but I’m sure that time will come. — No doubt, but the average Joe isn’t going to have such a program, I don’t think. Dave
Depends on where the average Joe hangs out, too…. <g — Rome wasn’t built in a day. Nor was Dothan, Alabama. —–BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK—– Version: 3.1 GIT/MC/SS d– s–:+ a C++ !U P L++(+) E—- W+++(–) N+++ !o K- w+$ !O M– !V PS+ PE++ Y+ PGP t 5 X– R*(+) tv+ b++++ DI++++ D– G e+* h(+) r x+- ——END GEEK CODE BLOCK——
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have 2 non-working laptops that I want to sell on eBay for parts. If you run a powerful magnet over the hard drive it will wipe all info. Usually false. And even if it did wipe the data, it would also wipe the embedded servo info, rendering the drive useless. You might as well sell without the drives. They have to be removable for service purposes. — Regards, PO Box 248 Bob Niland Enterprise
Do you remember about two years ago, the Chinese shot down an Air Force spy plane, forcing it to land on Chinese soil. As the crippled plane made its decent the crew was destroying the data on all the harddrives using an electro-magnet! Data is written to a HD by the drive head, which is (guess what?) a magnet.
Response:
Do you remember about two years ago, the Chinese shot down an Air Force spy plane, forcing it to land on Chinese soil. As the crippled plane made its decent the crew was destroying the data on all the harddrives using an electro-magnet! Data is written to a HD by the drive head, which is (guess what?) a magnet.
The heads in the drive are miniature electromagnets, not true magnets. There are extremely powerful magnets inside the drive, which are used in the servo assembly to move the heads over the platters. These magnets are stationary and the coil of wire is what moves back and forth as electrical impulses are sent to the servo. They make some really powerful degaussing machines to declassify drives that have secure info on them. After, which the drives are just sold as scrap metal. Rita
Response:
If you run a powerful magnet over the hard drive it will wipe all info. Usually false. And even if it did wipe the data, it would also wipe the embedded servo info, rendering the drive useless. You might as well sell without the drives. They have to be removable for service purposes. Do you remember about two years ago, the Chinese shot down an Air Force spy plane, forcing it to land on Chinese soil. As the crippled plane made its decent the crew was destroying the data on all the harddrives using an electro-magnet! Data is written to a HD by the drive head, which is (guess what?) a magnet.
It takes an extremely powerful magnet to do that. Typical home tape degaussers won’t do it. Pro tape degaussers won’t. Plus, it destroys the drive. You might as well smash it with a hammer. — Regards, PO Box 248 Bob Niland Enterprise which, due to spam, is: 67441-0248 email4rjn AT yahoo DOT com http://www.access-one.com/rjn Unless otherwise specifically stated, expressing personal opinions and NOT speaking for any employer, client or Internet Service Provider.
Response:
Don’t you mean "classify" it with a hammer?
Hey, whatever works for you? We are in a position to declassify any drive we receive. There were many that we took a hammer to that would bring tears to your eyes knowing what they sell for on eBay. Rita
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – <If you run a powerful magnet over the hard drive it will wipe all info. This is kind of what I was hoping to hear! But, unfortunately I would have no way of knowing if it really did work. I think I will just figure out how to remove the hard drives and sell as is for parts. Thanks for everyone who responded. Great group! DonnaB The problem with degaussing a harddrive with a magnet is that there is a 99.9% chance that the drive will no longer be usable again. If your information is that sensitive that a simple format doesn’t leave you feeling comfortable, the next option is to just remove the drive from the machine and declassify it with a hammer. Rita
Don’t you mean "classify" it with a hammer? Dave
Response:
I always thought the old axiom was "never *buy* a laptop on eBay". I hate when I’m wrong. Rusty
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have 2 non-working laptops that I want to sell on eBay for parts. Since I can’t get the laptops to power on and the hard drives are fixed and presumably not removable I cannot reformat the drives to remove personal information. If I try to sell without the hard drives (that do work if someone could get the laptops to work) I don’t think I would get much. Does anyone have any suggestions or should I just forget this whole idea and trash them. I generally only sell stuff I find around the house. I am one of those eBayers that sells for the fun of it and am running out of stuff to sell. DonnaB NEVER sell a laptop on eBay! See http://www.tinaja.com/glib/ebaysell.pdf — Many thanks, Don Lancaster Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552 Please visit my GURU’s LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
Response:
If you run a powerful magnet over the hard drive it will wipe all info. —
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