When discarding an old computer?

[Hari_Seldon]

@Dewey_Finn

Can you download DBAN on a different computer? Normally, you run the program by booting from a USB stick or CD-ROM.

There’s a thought.

[Defensive_Indifference]

@echoreply

Third or fourth DBAN. As long as the computer is functioning this is by far the best way to destroy the data on a spinning hard disk (solid state drives require different techniques). Sure, all the physical destruction stuff is fun to talk about, but isn’t really necessary.

This is a bit of a myth, unless you’re talking about wiping old MFM drives from the 80s. Once a modern, and that includes 15 year old, drive has been overwritten, there is nothing to recover. You also have to consider who is attacking you. In this case, it’s the guy who buys the old computer and runs a program to recover deleted files on it. One pass will make that method of recovery completely ineffective. If the government has it out for you, and they don’t get anything from your old computer, they’ll move on to other methods not available to guys shopping for recycled computers.

Thank you for typing this before I had to.

DBAN or a similar tool, one pass overwrite, is all you need. The latest guidance from NIST agrees that’s effective for magnetic media (SSDs get a little tricky due to how they handle storage [some have slightly more storage than the posted size, and it can be hard to access that through normal tools], but even then a pass or two is good enough for the vast majority of use cases).

I’m a computer forensics consultant and a professor of cybersecurity.

[echoreply]

@Dewey_Finn

Can you download DBAN on a different computer? Normally, you run the program by booting from a USB stick or CD-ROM.

nwipeis a fork of dwipe, the program in DBAN that does the actual wiping of the disk. DBAN itself is a small Linux distribution that boots and runs the dwipe. nwipe is available in Debian, and probably other Linux distributions. My most common method of wiping disks is to attach them to my desktop using a dock like this and then run nwipe on them.

There are certainly stand alone wiping programs available for Windows and Mac, but I don’t have any experience with them. MacOS does have the a secure erase/wipe option in Disk Utility. I’ve used that when wiping Mac laptops.

[Chronos]

I am about to take on old Win-XP computer (yes it is that old)

Nah, that’s young. I’d have expected you to keep a computer around for at least a millennium or so.

[DesertDog]

@echoreply

Third or fourth DBAN. As long as the computer is functioning this is by far the best way to destroy the data on a spinning hard disk (solid state drives require different techniques). Sure, all the physical destruction stuff is fun to talk about, but isn’t really necessary.

Awww.

If the government has it out for you, and they don’t get anything from your old computer, they’ll move on to other methods not available to guys shopping for recycled computers.

This is known in the trade as rubber hose decryption.

[aceplace57]

I used to get pc’s, recondition them and sell.

I boot off a CD and wipe the drive with low level format software.

Then reinstall the original OS using the orig serial number. That repartitions the drive.

The pc is ready to sell.

I’m sure the CIA could recover data. The normal customer can’t.

[Atamasama]

Dont try to erase an HDD with magnets. It’s incredibly difficult to, and it’s unlikely you have access to a magnet strong enough to.

Hard Drive Destruction

Maybe a junk yard that has one of those magnets that can pick up a car? That might work. Though I still wouldn’t put money on it.

[lingyi]

Download Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ which includes DBAN as well as a lot of other useful utilities.

[Atamasama]

@lingyi

Download Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ which includes DBAN as well as a lot of other useful utilities.

I’ve used that myself many times. A great Swiss Army knife of free software.

[dorvann]

For those of you talking about recovering data from hard drives how hard is it recovering deleted data on a solid state drive(SSD) compared traditional hard disk drive? Do you have to overwrite a SSD to secure your data?

[Hari_Seldon]

I downloaded dban and got an .iso program. I am leery of doing anything with it as long as it was on my mail computer so I moved it to a usb stick. I then clicked on it (on the stick which comes up as d:) and it created an e: drive with a bunch of files, mostly .txt and one .bzi. I have no idea where this e: drive is, probably a new partition on the c: drive. It shows no space left on e: and calls it a cd drive, although I have no physical cd drive. What next? I am at a total loss. No instructions. The text files are essentially useless.

[Chimera]

I just yank every hard disk out of my old computers, open them up and physically destroy the disk, discarding it separately.

Not that I have any mind bending secrets on mine, but I don’t tend to want to put easily retrieved data out there for the next person to pull up.

[DPRK]

@Hari_Seldon

I downloaded dban and got an .iso program. I am leery of doing anything with it as long as it was on my mail computer so I moved it to a usb stick. I then clicked on it (on the stick which comes up as d:) and it created an e: drive with a bunch of files, mostly .txt and one .bzi. I have no idea where this e: drive is, probably a new partition on the c: drive. It shows no space left on e: and calls it a cd drive, although I have no physical cd drive. What next? I am at a total loss. No instructions. The text files are essentially useless.

It won’t work like that. (The e: drive is probably just a virtual drive, whereas you need to be able to boot off the stick.) Follow (for instance) the directions here: download the Universal USB Installer mentioned there and use it to turn the .iso into a properly formatted USB stick. (You can also use a different utility to prepare the stick if you prefer.) Then reboot the computer with the stick inserted, hitting a special key to select the USB stick as the boot device instead of the hard disk.

[DPRK]

@Chimera

I just yank every hard disk out of my old computers, open them up and physically destroy the disk, discarding it separately.

Not that I have any mind bending secrets on mine, but I don’t tend to want to put easily retrieved data out there for the next person to pull up.

See the replies above- it’s not even worth the trouble doing that; all you have to do is erase the disk, and then there is no more data for anybody to pull up.

[SigMan]

@Hari_Seldon

I downloaded dban and got an .iso program. I am leery of doing anything with it as long as it was on my mail computer so I moved it to a usb stick. I then clicked on it (on the stick which comes up as d:) and it created an e: drive with a bunch of files, mostly .txt and one .bzi. I have no idea where this e: drive is, probably a new partition on the c: drive. It shows no space left on e: and calls it a cd drive, although I have no physical cd drive. What next? I am at a total loss. No instructions. The text files are essentially useless.

I doubt your HDD was partition to E:/. Look at the flash drive with a file manager. I’ll bet it’s there. You should run it on your PC and create the program on the flash drive.

[DPRK]

@dorvann

For those of you talking about recovering data from hard drives how hard is it recovering deleted data on a solid state drive(SSD) compared traditional hard disk drive? Do you have to overwrite a SSD to secure your data?

An interesting question best left to the forensic hardware hackers who have actually messed around with different variants of flash memory in a lab setting (are the erased cells really erased?)

What you are supposed to do is run software that sends a low-level block erase command to the SSD, thus ensuring all the cells are physically erased, after which you can overwrite the drive with 1’s and block-erase again. Also, if your data is stored in encrypted form that adds an additional layer of security.

[Dewey_Finn]

So what does a program like DBAN do on an SSD? Does it just wipe it the same way it would have wiped a HDD?

[Scumpup]

I put my old hard drives down with a full magazine from an AR-15. Fun, thorough, and valuable marksmanship practice.

[Lukeinva]

@Hari_Seldon

I am about to take on old Win-XP computer (yes it is that old) to a recycling centre. The computer still runs and of course contains a lot of personal stuff on it as well as old passwords. For example it automatically connected to my home Wi-Fi. What should I do to wipe the disk?

Is it a desktop? If yes unplug it unscrew the panels, and remove the disk. You can then put the disk in your new desktop where it will automatically become drive I, or J or some such. Now you can retrieve your old data and pictures, videos etc.

Other option is to buy an exterior disk connector and hook it directly to a USB port on your new desktop.

[moes_lotion]

@DPRK

See the replies above- it’s not even worth the trouble doing that; all you have to do is erase the disk, and then there is no more data for anybody to pull up.

Whether it’s too much trouble is a matter of personal taste, I have disposed of a number of computer hard drives over the years by disassembling them, removing the read head drive magnet and platter (or platters). As mentioned up-thread the drive magnets are quite powerful, they are almost too strong to use as fridge magnets because they can be hard to pull off if there’s nothing underneath. As for the platters, if you have a propane torch you can create some beautiful oxidation patterns on them and then use them to make gentle wind chimes, or drinks coasters.