Spyware, viruses, & security forum: How to completely clean harddrive?

that has a bunch of information, and should tell you what you need to know.

Link
http://forums.cnet.com/5238-7813-0.html?kw=clean+hard+drive&select=All+CNET+Forums&forumID=&threadID=&messageType=1&tag=srchbr

Hope this will help.
Larry

Generally, reformatting and reinstalling does a fair job since it writes over most of the previous data..

For files of a more 'personal' nature where you want to make sure they aren't retrievable, try using a program like Dban to wipe the drive, then reformat and reinstall things again.. The link below provides the free Dban program and includes instructions on how to make a bootable CD which contains Dban.

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

And if you've got government securities on the drive, remove it and destroy the drive.

Hope this helps.

Grif

I'm not sure what you're referring to but the drive formatting is of little relevance..Although I also use Killdisk, unfortunately, if you only use the free version, it doesn't provide the full DoD wipe option.. It only provides a a single pass write option unless you BUY it.. On the other hand, free Dban DOES provide the DoD option in it's default mode

An excerpt from the Dban site:

Software
DBAN supports all Microsoft platforms and securely destroys FAT, VFAT, and NTFS filesytems.

DBAN supports all unix platforms and securely destroys ReiserFS, EXT, and UFS filesystems.
___________

Still, it's a personal choice on which one you choose to use.

Hope this helps.

Grif