If one is disposing of a computer and wants to remove all privacy type files...
You are correct, “deleting†a file does nothing of the sort. File
information is maintained in a directory so your operating system can find
it. All that “delete†does is erase the file’s reference information. Your OS
can’t find it, but the data is still there. That’s what those “file recoveryâ€
programs look for: data in blocks that the directory says aren’t in use. But
did you know that your disk drive has a built-in system for the secure
erasure of data?
"Secure Erase" is a set of commands embedded in most ATA drives built since
2001. You probably haven’t heard of it before because it’s been disabled by
most motherboard BIOSes. WARNING:Secure Erase is a loaded gun aimed right at
all your data, so do not play with it until it's needed. Secure Erase simply
overwrites every single track on the hard drive. That includes the data on
“bad blocksâ€, the data left at the end of partly overwritten blocks,
directories, everything.
There is NO data recovery from Secure Erase!! Download " Freeware Secure
Erase Utility" @
http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/Hughes/subpgset.htm, read the ReadMe
file and you’re good to go.
To use it you’ll need to know how to create a DOS boot disk - in XP you can
do it with the “Format†option after you right-click the floppy icon in My
Computer. If you want to know more, read CMRR’s 12 page Tutorial on Disk
Drive Data Sanitization
@http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/Hughes/DataSanitizationTutorial.pdf.
--
Simone de Beauvoir (Enigma)
"Robert" wrote:
> It is my understanding that Windows XP System Restore maintains copies of
> protected files, such as .doc and .xls files in My Documents, and that
> erasing or wiping the original file does not affect the copy that System
> Restore maintains. If one is disposing of a computer and wants to remove all
> privacy type files from My Documents, what can be done, if anything, to
> remove the protected files from System Resotre. Thank you,
> --
> Robert