Delete forever? Without retreival?

[needgoodies]

Is there any way to really delete something forever? I thought something always stayed on your hard drive. But sometimes you need to make sure nobody gets into your personal information like when you selling your computer.

[glc]

If you are that concerned, just use a utility such as Darik's Boot & Nuke to zero out the drive several times.

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

[peekaboo]

you can sell your computer minus the hard drive.
i've never tested the software type "permanent" deletion but i'm pretty sure (from what people here have written) that they'll prevent the layman from getting at your data.
if you are worried about professionals getting it, i wouldn't trust any software.
where i used to work, they would turn the hard drives into dust and then mix it with acid before allowing it to leave.

[glc]

Incinerators are quite effective too.

[needgoodies]

What if you were to use a good lost data recovery utility and then cut the item out transfer to an external media and then destroy would that work or would you still have a ghost of data still floating in you computer?

[peekaboo]

not sure about what you are trying to do and i don't have much experience with data recovery other than using some programs to get most of my lost files back but i can tell you this:
there are companies who claim to be able to recover data from disks that have been fromatted and burned (!!!).
it would probably cost a fortune but it's claimed to be possible.
so if you've got the secret to time travel on your hard drive you'd better physically destroy it.
if you have porn or anything else that's just embarassing on it, a software (like DBAN) is probably good enough.

but it would be interesting to learn from your experience if you have time, use an erasing software and try to recover data. let us know the results.

[glc]

Utilities such as DBAN, run at DoD level, are good enough to keep the data from being recovered except in a lab with very high priced specialized tools, techniques, and knowledge. I suppose the FBI, CIA, or Interpol could recover something, but I don't think anybody who is just trying to hack personal data would have such forensic tools.

[doctorgonzo]

I've been using Eraser for many years. You can use it to selectively delete files by overwriting them as many times as you desire, or you can set it up to overwrite everything, including free space. DoD specifications are 3 overwrites, I use 15 before I get rid of a hard drive, but you can overwrite as many times as your paranoia level warrants.

There may still be a chance that somebody could get data off your drives after using these tools, but unless it's worth spending tens of thousands of dollars, nobody is going to try.