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Electronics Forum / Basics / November 2008how to redonate an old computer to a kid
http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html > http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html if you have any sensitive data on it erase it securely first. formatting the drive does not always erase data. >> http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html > > if you have any sensitive data on it erase it securely first. > formatting the drive does not always erase data. Yet when i've tried to recover data after someone accidentally repartitioned one (without writing any data), no utilities managed anything whatsoever.  Signaturehttp://www.petersparrots.com http://www.insanevideoclips.com http://www.petersphotos.com An English taxidermist is sweating his way through the Australian outback when he comes across a bar. He staggers in between the beer swilling locals and, in his well educated voice, asks the bartender, "May I have a gin and tonic, please, my good man." One of the locals says to his mates, "Geez, cobbers, what kind of a f.cking man's drink is that?" Then, turning to the Englishman, "Hey! You! Yes you, you f.cking Pom! Gin and f.cking tonic are you some f.cking kind of a poofter or something?" "Ac...actually," the Englishman, terrified, replies, "I'm a taxidermist." "Oh yeah? And what's a taxidermist, then?" "I mount d..d..dead animals." "It's alright, cobbers," says the local, turning to his mates, "he's one of us!" > >>http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html > > > if you have any sensitive data on it erase it securely first. > > formatting the drive does not always erase data. > > Yet when i've tried to recover data after someone accidentally repartitioned one (without writing any data), no utilities managed anything whatsoever. Have you tried "dd"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_%28Unix%29 You can use it to write the hard drive partition to a single (huge) file. It might not be elegant, but if you have credit card / bank account #s floating around your drive, dd can give this info to a bright kid with too much time on his hands Michael a low-level format followed by a high-level format, then install the OS and perform a disk defrag. Norton's SpeedDisk used to wipe unused sectors, but after '98 it doesn't do it anymore. Know of any that still perform this menial task? Evil overlord of <a href=http://www.gamestotal.com> http://www.gamestotal.com </a> <a href=http://uc.gamestotal.com> http://uc.gamestotal.com </a> <a href=http://gc.gamestotal.com> http://gc.gamestotal.com </a> <a href=http://3700ad.gamestotal.com> http://3700ad.gamestotal.com </a> <a href=http://manga.gamestotal.com> http://manga.gamestotal.com </a> >a low-level format followed by a high-level format, then install the > OS and perform a disk defrag. Norton's SpeedDisk used to wipe unused > sectors, but after '98 it doesn't do it anymore. Know of any that > still perform this menial task? http://www.cbltech.ca/data-shredder.html > a low-level format followed by a high-level format, then install the > OS and perform a disk defrag. Norton's SpeedDisk used to wipe unused > sectors, but after '98 it doesn't do it anymore. Know of any that > still perform this menial task? for a low level format you need to return the drive to the maker and they need to open it in a cleanroom... about the best that can be done with software is to overwrite all the data (by writing to every sector) >> a low-level format followed by a high-level format, then install the >> OS and perform a disk defrag. Norton's SpeedDisk used to wipe unused [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > about the best that can be done with software is to overwrite all the > data (by writing to every sector) I just delete everything I don't want people to see (and empty the recycle bin), then fill the disk with meaningless data (by copying unsensitive stuff over and over again until the disk is completely full). Then format it. Signaturehttp://www.petersparrots.com http://www.insanevideoclips.com http://www.petersphotos.com A woman storms into her boss's office with this complaint: "All the other women in the office are suing you for sexual harassment. "Since you haven't sexually harassed me, I'm suing you for discrimination." >> >>http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html >> [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > floating around your drive, dd can give this info to a bright kid with > too much time on his hands I see. Although how do you find a 16 digit number in a 50GB file? Doesn't help me getting useful files back though. Signaturehttp://www.petersparrots.com http://www.insanevideoclips.com http://www.petersphotos.com Money can't buy you true love. It does however put you in a good bargaining position. >>> >>http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html >>> [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > I see. Although how do you find a 16 digit number in a 50GB file? strings < 50GB_file | egrep '([0-9]{4}[ -]?){4}' expect some false hits. > Doesn't help me getting useful files back though. no, just the ones you'd rather bury. > Yet when i've tried to recover data after someone accidentally repartitioned one (without writing any data), no utilities managed anything whatsoever. If the directory listings were uniformly destroyed, file recovery tools won't give you anything useful as output. But the data is still there, you could still view the contents of text files (by inspecting the drive sector by sector). Cheers, Nicholas Sherlock ----------------- www.Newsgroup-Binaries.com - *Completion*Retention*Speed* Access your favorite newsgroups from home or on the road ----------------- >> Yet when i've tried to recover data after someone accidentally repartitioned one (without writing any data), no utilities managed anything whatsoever. > If the directory listings were uniformly destroyed, file recovery tools > won't give you anything useful as output. But the data is still there, > you could still view the contents of text files (by inspecting the drive > sector by sector). Assuming the files are contiguous (not fragmented), not (badly) effected by extra garbage bytes on the end, and the first block of a file can be easily identified (all zip files start the same...) it's quite practical to recover a file's contents after all the metadata has been erased. >>> Yet when i've tried to recover data after someone accidentally repartitioned one (without writing any data), no utilities managed anything whatsoever. > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > it's quite practical to recover a file's contents after all the > metadata has been erased. Then why have 15 different utilities failed to produce anything at all? All that happened was a re-partition. Signaturehttp://www.petersparrots.com http://www.insanevideoclips.com http://www.petersphotos.com A woman goes into a sporting goods store to buy a shotgun. "It's for my husband," she tells the clerk. "Did he tell you what gauge to get?" asked the clerk. "Are you kidding?" she says. "He doesn't even know that I'm going to shoot him!" >>>> Yet when i've tried to recover data after someone accidentally repartitioned one (without writing any data), no utilities managed anything whatsoever. >> [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Then why have 15 different utilities failed to produce anything at all? All that happened was a re-partition. Either they were crap or a re-partition was not all. >>> http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html >> >> if you have any sensitive data on it erase it securely first. >> formatting the drive does not always erase data. > > Yet when i've tried to recover data after someone accidentally repartitioned one (without writing any data), no utilities managed anything whatsoever. I've never had a problem getting data from a drives that have only been formatted (unless the formatting overwrote all the sectors) >>>> http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html >>> [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > I've never had a problem getting data from a drives that have only > been formatted (unless the formatting overwrote all the sectors) What about deleting the partition? Signaturehttp://www.petersparrots.com http://www.insanevideoclips.com http://www.petersphotos.com Tip of the day: Do not fart in the bath while you have the runs. >>>>> http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html >>>> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > What about deleting the partition? If it was merely that just run gpart. that's what it's for, it'll get all your files back. > >>>>>http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > that's what it's for, it'll get all your files back. Nice! I gotta practice that on an old drive... Thanks, Michael >> http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html > > if you have any sensitive data on it erase it securely first. formatting > the drive does not always erase data. $ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hd[x][n] [x] = drive [n] = partition Cheers! Rich >>> http://www.ehow.com/how_4559633_redonate-old-computer-kid.html >> >> if you have any sensitive data on it erase it securely first. formatting >> the drive does not always erase data. > > $ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hd[x][n] [x] = drive [n] = partition That's a pretty good approximation; if you want to be truly paranoid, and the drive was made after around 2001, you can do slightly better by sending the drive an ATA "secure erase" command, e.g.: hdparm --security-erase /dev/hd[x][n] or: http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml This will also overwrite any "unmapped" sectors, i.e. those which have been mapped out due to failure, or spare sectors for use when existing sectors go bad. |
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