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Wipe hard disks

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  Wipe hard disks martyn.tindall@nospamplease.mbtindall.plus.com (Martyn Tindall) - 2012-04-27 21:14 +0000
    Re: Wipe hard disks "RnR" <rnrtexas@gmail.com> - 2012-04-28 02:00 -0500
      Re: Wipe hard disks martyn.tindall@nospamplease.mbtindall.plus.com (Martyn Tindall) - 2012-04-28 21:27 +0000
    Re: Wipe hard disks gargoyle60 <gargoyle60@example.invalid> - 2012-04-29 09:34 +0100
    Re: Wipe hard disks Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you> - 2012-04-30 09:20 +0000
      Re: Wipe hard disks martyn.tindall@nospamplease.mbtindall.plus.com (Martyn Tindall) - 2012-05-07 21:10 +0000
    Re: Wipe hard disks mike <spamme9@gmail.com> - 2012-04-30 07:10 -0700
      Re: Wipe hard disks martyn.tindall@nospamplease.mbtindall.plus.com (Martyn Tindall) - 2012-05-07 21:13 +0000
    Re: Wipe hard disks rb <rb.5ca4a5@no.email.invalid> - 2012-05-08 15:14 -0500

#1373 — Wipe hard disks

I've got three old Toshiba laptops that I want to throw away (Win 3.1,
Win 95 and XP respectively).  Can anyone suggest a decent free
programme I can use to wipe the hard disks?

Alternatively, it strikes me that it might be simpler to take the
disks out and break them up - how does that sound?

TIA,


-- 
Martyn Tindall
Leeds, England, United Kingdom

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#1379

On Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:14:21 GMT,
martyn.tindall@nospamplease.mbtindall.plus.com (Martyn Tindall) wrote:

>I've got three old Toshiba laptops that I want to throw away (Win 3.1,
>Win 95 and XP respectively).  Can anyone suggest a decent free
>programme I can use to wipe the hard disks?
>
>Alternatively, it strikes me that it might be simpler to take the
>disks out and break them up - how does that sound?
>
>TIA,


I actually did break one or two up to pieces and despite the fact that
some sources said they could still read them, I doubt it the way I
broke it up.  I will say tho, it took me some time to really break it
into tiny pieces so it may not be worth the time???    That said, see
if the mfgr of your hard drive has on his site some free utility to
wipe the disk.   If so, likely it will be free.

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#1383

On Sat, 28 Apr 2012 02:00:25 -0500, "RnR" <rnrtexas@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:14:21 GMT,
>martyn.tindall@nospamplease.mbtindall.plus.com (Martyn Tindall) wrote:
>
>>I've got three old Toshiba laptops that I want to throw away (Win 3.1,
>>Win 95 and XP respectively).  Can anyone suggest a decent free
>>programme I can use to wipe the hard disks?
>>
>>Alternatively, it strikes me that it might be simpler to take the
>>disks out and break them up - how does that sound?
>>
>>TIA,
>
>
>I actually did break one or two up to pieces and despite the fact that
>some sources said they could still read them, I doubt it the way I
>broke it up.  I will say tho, it took me some time to really break it
>into tiny pieces so it may not be worth the time???    That said, see
>if the mfgr of your hard drive has on his site some free utility to
>wipe the disk.   If so, likely it will be free.

Thanks for that!

MBT

-- 
Martyn Tindall
Leeds, England, United Kingdom

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#1385

On Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:14:21 GMT, martyn.tindall@nospamplease.mbtindall.plus.com (Martyn Tindall)
wrote:

>I've got three old Toshiba laptops that I want to throw away (Win 3.1,
>Win 95 and XP respectively).  Can anyone suggest a decent free
>programme I can use to wipe the hard disks?
>
>Alternatively, it strikes me that it might be simpler to take the
>disks out and break them up - how does that sound?
>
>TIA,

Try FileShredder - http://www.fileshredder.org/

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#1389

On 28 Apr 2012, Martyn Tindall wrote:

> I've got three old Toshiba laptops that I want to throw
> away (Win 3.1, Win 95 and XP respectively).  Can anyone
> suggest a decent free programme I can use to wipe the hard
> disks? 

You could try DBAN, it boots from removable media and then 
allows selection of various methods for wiping the HDD securely. 
The latest version only comes as a CD image, but the 1.x 
versions have a floppy image as well (inside a Windows installer 
program).

Here is the website:
http://www.dban.org/

You should also be able to use the dd command on a bootable 
Linux distro to do the same job, something like "dd 
if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/<HDD>".

For the older Laptops (which I assume don't have CD drives), you 
could boot a FDD based distro such as tomsrtbt or BasicLinux to 
do the deed:
http://www.toms.net/rb/
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/baslinux/

Also, I can't help but say that I'm sure someone on Ebay would 
probably give you a bit for those machines if you put them up. I 
have a strange love of old laptops so it's hard to think of them 
being sent to the tip like this.

--
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

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#1395

On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:20:32 +0000 (UTC), Computer Nerd Kev
<not@telling.you> wrote:

>On 28 Apr 2012, Martyn Tindall wrote:
>
>> I've got three old Toshiba laptops that I want to throw
>> away (Win 3.1, Win 95 and XP respectively).  Can anyone
>> suggest a decent free programme I can use to wipe the hard
>> disks? 
>
>You could try DBAN, it boots from removable media and then 
>allows selection of various methods for wiping the HDD securely. 
>The latest version only comes as a CD image, but the 1.x 
>versions have a floppy image as well (inside a Windows installer 
>program).
>
>Here is the website:
>http://www.dban.org/
>
>You should also be able to use the dd command on a bootable 
>Linux distro to do the same job, something like "dd 
>if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/<HDD>".
>
>For the older Laptops (which I assume don't have CD drives), you 
>could boot a FDD based distro such as tomsrtbt or BasicLinux to 
>do the deed:
>http://www.toms.net/rb/
>http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/baslinux/

Thanks for the info.
>
>Also, I can't help but say that I'm sure someone on Ebay would 
>probably give you a bit for those machines if you put them up. I 
>have a strange love of old laptops so it's hard to think of them 
>being sent to the tip like this.

Yes, I agree - it'll be hard to part with them.  Maybe I should try
Ebay....

MBT

-- 
Martyn Tindall
Leeds, England, United Kingdom

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#1390

On 4/27/2012 2:14 PM, Martyn Tindall wrote:
> I've got three old Toshiba laptops that I want to throw away (Win 3.1,
> Win 95 and XP respectively).  Can anyone suggest a decent free
> programme I can use to wipe the hard disks?
>
> Alternatively, it strikes me that it might be simpler to take the
> disks out and break them up - how does that sound?
>
> TIA,
>
>
Data Eraser works.
The free version only does one pass wipe.
Unless you've got launch codes, that oughta be enough.
I'd use a usb/ide interface and do it on any computer.

If it were me I'd try to sell 'em with an intact OS.
Delete personal stuff, copy mp3s or movies to the drive
till it fills up then delete 'em.

Anybody who wants your private data that bad will just
take it at gunpoint.

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#1396

On Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:10:38 -0700, mike <spamme9@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 4/27/2012 2:14 PM, Martyn Tindall wrote:
>> I've got three old Toshiba laptops that I want to throw away (Win 3.1,
>> Win 95 and XP respectively).  Can anyone suggest a decent free
>> programme I can use to wipe the hard disks?
>>
>> Alternatively, it strikes me that it might be simpler to take the
>> disks out and break them up - how does that sound?
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>>
>Data Eraser works.
>The free version only does one pass wipe.
>Unless you've got launch codes, that oughta be enough.
>I'd use a usb/ide interface and do it on any computer.
>
>If it were me I'd try to sell 'em with an intact OS.
>Delete personal stuff, copy mp3s or movies to the drive
>till it fills up then delete 'em.
>
>Anybody who wants your private data that bad will just
>take it at gunpoint.

Thanks.  The older machines have only floppy drives, though.

MBT


-- 
Martyn Tindall
Leeds, England, United Kingdom

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#1401

Martyn Tindall;1338378 Wrote: 
> I've got three old Toshiba laptops that I want to throw away (Win 3.1,
> Win 95 and XP respectively).  Can anyone suggest a decent free
> programme I can use to wipe the hard disks?
> 
> Alternatively, it strikes me that it might be simpler to take the
> disks out and break them up - how does that sound?
> 
> TIA,
> -- 
> Martyn Tindall
> Leeds, England, United Kingdom

Harddrive and partition eraser utility--> www.killdisk.com/

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