Archived Thread

NFT: Best free hard drive cleaner?

Matt M. : 10/27/2014 12:30 am

A few weeks ago I had posted about a possibly corrupted laptop. I re-installed Windows re-formatting the hard drive several times. I have had issues with the machine since; I think a lot of drivers are missing. Long story short, I bought a new laptop and would like to wipe the hard drive clean on the old one. But, I don't remember the 2 hard drive cleaners that were recommended. Any thoughts?

I just always use the built in Windows diskpart command line interface

guitarguybs07 : 10/27/2014 12:48 am : link

and run the "clean all" command to zero-fill the drive.

That's all that is needed. It is impossible to recover any data at that point.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html?ltr=D
Zero Fill Recovery Impossible - ( New Window )

I use CCleaner

ballanda : 10/27/2014 6:09 am : link

It's not crappy.

If you plan to use it again a straight disk format should be fine

Jim in Fairfax : 10/27/2014 10:10 am : link

If not use Darik's Boot and Nuke

guitar

Matt M. : 10/27/2014 10:50 am : link

Is that essentially what is done if i deleted the existing partitions as part of my clean re-install of Windows 7?

I don't plan to use it again, but I want to dispose of the computer

Matt M. : 10/27/2014 10:55 am : link

If I donate it or recycle it, I want to be sure it is clean.

What kind of freaky porn

Pork and Beans : 10/27/2014 10:56 am : link

are you saving that you are so paranoid about your data?

RE: guitar

Jim in Fairfax : 10/27/2014 10:57 am : link

In comment 11941804 Matt M. said:

Quote:

Is that essentially what is done if i deleted the existing partitions as part of my clean re-install of Windows 7?

That doesn't erase anything except the file table that is basically a directory of where everything is on the drive. All the files are still on the disk.

RE: What kind of freaky porn

RC02XX : 10/27/2014 11:06 am : link

In comment 11941825 Pork and Beans said:

Quote:

are you saving that you are so paranoid about your data?

Did someone call my name?

--Cam

RE: I don't plan to use it again, but I want to dispose of the computer

jcn56 : 10/27/2014 11:06 am : link

In comment 11941817 Matt M. said:

Quote:

If I donate it or recycle it, I want to be sure it is clean.

What Jim mentioned above, DBAN, is the way to go about cleansing a drive for sale or disposal. 99.99% chance that data is never coming back again (if the NSA is out for you, might want to consider doing that and then dragging it behind your car for a few hundred miles).

jcn, Jim

Matt M. : 10/27/2014 11:21 am : link

Thanks. I was leaning toward DBN. I may even recycle the computer without the hard drive intact. I am trying to find out from Dell if they would accept a machine like this.

And DBAN gets booted from a USB drive or

Matt M. : 10/27/2014 11:23 am : link

disk, right?