What's The Best Hdd Erase Method?

I'm wondering what the best hdd erase method is. There's a variety to choose from. I'd like to know the strongest. From my research the Gutmann method and PRNG are the two toughest wipe methods available. I could be wrong. I don't want to be... But I'm not so educated on the two, or if there are far stronger ways of approaching this task. Currently I'm wiping some large files I accidentally left on a friends Mac. I'm going this route because I came to find out that someone had broke into their system to steal files last year and that's a really scary thought. So my stuffs got to be gone! I'm using a program called "Permanent Eraser" to do so. It uses the Gutmann method in the live OS (meaning not during boot when the system hasn't loaded yet). But I've read about this method on Wikipedia and it seems as if Gutmann himself (whom it's named after), states this is an old method that doesn't stand up anymore. I'm not sure I could be understanding him wrong, or someone could have stated that quote incorrectly. This is why I ask what the best erase method is? The software is 90% close to completing the erasure of the files I accidentally left on their PC (approx 40 hours and counting). And when it's done it's done. I wish I had asked this beforehand. But even so I'm wondering if there are any other methods or tips to erase any free space "wisely" and "securely" on the hdd once the current software completes the erasure. Just so I can be ten bazillion times sure that all my stuff is gone and non recoverable. However it is I'd like to do this all during a live system run, unless I can free space outside of it without damaging the OS. Any extra measures to be sure my stuff is gone would be great!

Thanks for all of your input.

 

Have a look at this article on MajorGeeks.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/3_apps_to_wipe_your_hard_drive.html
Active KillDisk Professional ($29.95) will give you peace of mind.

 

I use eraser and Gutmann, 35 passes is one of the methods. If the file is large, 35 passes will take an extremely long time.
I don't delete any files on my computer. I generally erase them and use 3 paces but my computer is only used by me and my husband so 3 passes is safe enough for us.

For erasing free space, have a look at CCleaner. Look under Tools, the select Drive Wiper. The first option is Wipe: free space only. I'm not sure how many passes. You have options of 1 pass, 3 passes, 7 passes and 35 passes. I would think 7 would be fine for most users.

 

Thanks for the replies, though is the Gutmann method obsolete now? And I'm still referring to traditional hard drives (not solid state).

 

It's a waste of time to overwrite data 35 times.
Have a look at this article.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_erasure

 

Ever hear of Bruce Schneier? https://www.schneier.com/
I get a security newsletter from him on the 15th of each month.

One of the eraser methods is 7 passes and says Schneier's 7 pass. I figure if that's what is recommended by a security professional, it is good enough for me.

 

I used to go with 35 passes for cleaning free space, but I got the feeling that it's not worth the effort for my purposes. I use the DOD method but I guess I should switch to Schneier's and stick with Gutman for erasing normal files.

One thing I like about Eraser over CCleaner is that it creates a log after a run (apologies if CCleaner does this and I have missed it). This way at least I can see how many cluster tips haven't been cleaned. I ran the free space wipe of Eraser about a week ago on 5 drives, and I was surprised how many cluster tips weren't cleaned. Most of it was OK, because it was in a system area of the drive where only system files are. Those show up black in the log. There also appear to be a large number in black of "insufficient permissions" too, but I guess the Eraser developer took that into account the danger of these being left behind when choosing not to color them red. There must have been 200 or more red entries, though. The only reason I saw for these was that the file was in use by another process. Causes me to wonder if running Eraser from a boot disk when Windows is off would be better. I have heard that cleaning OS cluster tips can break things, but I haven't run into that yet.

I have no idea if this is true or not, but CCleaner seems to finish much faster than Eraser. I wondered if it actually completes the jobs. I do think I would make sure whatever I use has a logging feature.

Think I will install Piriform Recuva and see what if anything it turns up. Just for the record...

 

I have followed cleaning by several of these programs with a run of 'recuva'. While I never found a complete file, I did find fragments. A jpeg with a stripe of the original still showing. A document that had text still visible in certain areas. Links partially readable.

Don't know if its the nature of the beast or the strength of 'recuva'.

For real destruction of data , I guess the drill bit or similar method is what works.

 

Have a look at this.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/index....-file-deletion-made-easy.252636/#post-1934332

 

After running deep scan, Recuva turned up 300,000 files. This is a large 500 GB drive and it was 50-50 recoverable. Something to keep in mind I guess is that presently I am only using 36 GB of the drive . Most of the files found were system type files, some dating back to 2000 (?) and even beyond (all Windows type files). Maybe the newer files are leftovers from a previous image restoration I did at some point, not sure. I've been using the system a year and a half now, so surely I have reimaged once. I guess Eraser could have been skipping files from this as system type files many times, even though they have been replaced in a restoration. Many of them were recoverable...system restore types of loony Windows files.

Overall, much of what was recoverable in the form of personal files were temp files from recent visits to Amazon and ebay and then icons from web pages and deleted apps, pics I recognized. So most of the unrecoverable must have been files that were on the PC before I ran Eraser. Only one problem, though. I was able to view most of the thousands of the unrecoverable pics in Recuva's "advanced mode". I would say that recovering these wouldn't have been much of an issue. These included some screenshots from Windows aero peek and so on too, which is not good. Yeah, maybe some pixels were out of place with these "unrecoverables", but the pics didn't appear damaged for the most part.

Using the Recuva normal scan for only pics turned up far less pics and a much lower % of recoverable. Still, some of the unrecoverable were viewable.

I MIGHT try to run a free space cleaner from a boot disk at some point. However, I'd rather not wreak havoc on a good thing. I do have backups of the OS, but I'd rather not have to use one in any case but an emergency. That said, overall, running Eraser in Windows does seem to do some good, but it doesn't clean cluster tips for Windows files that are in use and for a gajillion others that are logged as system files. The erasure seems marginally effective for many other "unrecoverables" too. One thing I guess I could say about looking into this. Those super security conscious might want to turn off aero peek in Windows Vista and up (I think it's in Vista)...

Oh yeah, this was using Eraser's DOD 7 passes methodology for scrubbing free space...

 

Interesting. When I e-cycle a computer, I remove the hard drive and keep it. Then my husband and I take it apart.