Discussion Forums > Technology
Looking for hardisk format software
Pentium100:
That was true for the old hard drives, you know, 5.25" Full Height, 20MB... Current 1-2TB drives pack the data so densely that is may well be impossible to recover even one "layer" of data.
In any case, no software would be able to recover overwritten sectors simply because even if the hard drive does not flip all of the particles, if flips enough of them so that it can read back the data.
(did you try running your program after zero-filling the drive?)
FBI, CIA and others can have equipment sensitive enough to recover overwritten data from the drive. But if you are worried about them, you should already have the drive encrypted and use multiple passwords (so that when they use rubber hose method for decrypting, you tell them one password that decrypts less important information, that is, if they manage to pull out the encrypted file after you zero the drive).
--- Quote ---In fact, once I received refurbished hard drives full of financial records of business.
--- End quote ---
They probably didn't even try to erase the data.
fohfoh:
GParted is probably my fave if you need to write several partitions on an HDD (Like... 5 or something for a dual boot)
Windows maxes out at like 3? Ubuntu maxes out at like... 4? Idk... it's been a while since I did that.
nstgc:
--- Quote from: Pentium100 on August 16, 2010, 06:17:02 PM ---That was true for the old hard drives, you know, 5.25" Full Height, 20MB... Current 1-2TB drives pack the data so densely that is may well be impossible to recover even one "layer" of data.
In any case, no software would be able to recover overwritten sectors simply because even if the hard drive does not flip all of the particles, if flips enough of them so that it can read back the data.
(did you try running your program after zero-filling the drive?)
FBI, CIA and others can have equipment sensitive enough to recover overwritten data from the drive. But if you are worried about them, you should already have the drive encrypted and use multiple passwords (so that when they use rubber hose method for decrypting, you tell them one password that decrypts less important information, that is, if they manage to pull out the encrypted file after you zero the drive).
--- Quote ---In fact, once I received refurbished hard drives full of financial records of business.
--- End quote ---
They probably didn't even try to erase the data.
--- End quote ---
Packing data more closely shouldn't have any effect since read write heads must become more sensitive in response to the increased density.
As for zero-filling that drive I was mentioning, no I didn't. Instead I filled it with all sorts of stuff and tried, fruitlessly, to recover the data after two drives in a RAID 5 died. The data should not have been there, yet the drive was almost filled with financial records.
Pentium100:
--- Quote from: nstgc on August 16, 2010, 07:15:06 PM ---Packing data more closely shouldn't have any effect since read write heads must become more sensitive in response to the increased density.
--- End quote ---
It does. There is a minimum noise level, just like with a cassette tape. Packing the data more closely reduces signal to noise ratio. Old hard drives (and floppy drives), recorded a strong signal and were able to read it back using simple peak detection method. The data was usually read without the use of ECC, when ECC was used it was a sign of a weak sector. Modern drives use EPRML and ECC is almost always used during during normal operation of the drive, that is - the drive can no longer reliably read what it has written "on top" without the use of ECC (which in the past was only used in case of a problem). And you want it to be able to read what it has written before.
--- Quote --- As for zero-filling that drive I was mentioning, no I didn't. Instead I filled it with all sorts of stuff and tried, fruitlessly, to recover the data after two drives in a RAID 5 died. The data should not have been there, yet the drive was almost filled with financial records.
--- End quote ---
Interesting. Maybe that's why your RAID failed - the drive could no longer record reliably (as evidenced by the previous data on it).
bork:
Use sdelete - uses a approved DOD erase algorithm.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897443.aspx
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