FDisk - Total Format?

[Giorgi]

Hi all, wanted to ask you if the FDisk format erases EVERYTHING that is on my HDD (so all that shit IE and Outlook history files dissapear)?

[Refalm]

Hi all, wanted to ask you if the FDisk format erases EVERYTHING that is on my HDD (so all that shit IE and Outlook history files dissapear)?

If you remove every partition in fdisk, then yes, it will all be gone.

[MrX]

no, all fdisk and format does is write free space to your hdd, making it super easy to recover any shit you have on there. get this:
http://majorgeeks.com/download1386.html
do a full format option.

here is how to kill a win98 installation in under 30 seconds or less:
upon booting up, hold down F8
choose command promt only
type:
deltree c:\ /y
and then half way thru, reset the computer, and the hdd will be fsked and it will display 'invalid boot disk ... '

Mr X

[Giorgi]

MrX,
That method that u gave here, it removes all logical drives etc? So after that i just run Fdisk and re-create all the drives?

[Refalm]

no, all fdisk and format does is write free space to your hdd, making it super easy to recover any shit you have on there. get this:
http://majorgeeks.com/download1386.html
do a full format option.

here is how to kill a win98 installation in under 30 seconds or less:
upon booting up, hold down F8
choose command promt only
type:
deltree c:\ /y
and then half way thru, reset the computer, and the hdd will be fsked and it will display 'invalid boot disk ... '

Mr X

 How the hell are you supposed to run Windows 98 when all the partitions are removed?

[skyman8081]

Most HDD manufacturers ship a special floppy disk with their drives,  if you boot that disk it will write zero's over the entire drive, making  it completely fresh.

and it that ain't enough, and you have classified materials on you drive, use DBAN  which will write random 1's and 0's over your drive 5 times and is compliant to the American DoD 5220-22.M Standard Wipe spec.

[MrX]

i already put the link in my original message so you can wipe the hdd with 00
did you even do this yet?

Mr X

[TheQuirk]

Hi all, wanted to ask you if the FDisk format erases EVERYTHING that is on my HDD (so all that shit IE and Outlook history files dissapear)?

No one provided a basic explanation as to _why_ it doesn't wipe the HD completely.

When you run fdisk, you simply remove the partion _table_. This means that the data stays on the hard drive. The computer simply doesn't know what belongs where. When you create a new table, the data stays on the HD it's written over.

To remedy this, you should use the tools mentioned above to overwrite all the old data.

[Master of Reality]

get a nice linux boot disk... then at the shell run "# cat /dev/zero > /dev/hda"

[Orethrius]

get a nice linux boot disk... then at the shell run "# cat /dev/zero > /dev/hda"

Using that exact command in a slightly different structure also helps to complete tape backups in record time.  

[Calum]

get a nice linux boot disk... then at the shell run "# cat /dev/zero > /dev/hda"

this will erase the contents of the hard drive.
funny how long it sometimes takes to get a straight answer here! thanks, MoR! :-D

[Master of Reality]

then for shits and giggles run "# cat /dev/urandom > /dev/hda"

[KernelPanic]

Surely that is what the disk Sauron linked is doing for you.
Just automated, and repeatedly.

[skyman8081]

then for shits and giggles run "# cat /dev/urandom > /dev/hda"

If you want DOD 5220.22-M deletion you have to do this:

write it over with 10101010 etc.... then with 0101010101 etc...

Do that 3 times.

then you make a final pass of randomness.

if you have any information that is rated above Secret, that will not work, as the HD retains its magnetism for disk tracking servo data.  Above secret, you must degauss the disk and then destroy the disk completely

Site with a list of compliant methods of erasure

[Giorgi]

Lol! Bye guys i throw my hdd away..