[mdheart30]

I need to erase all of the information from a hard drive. New computer is running Windows XP Pro. I am going to be using an IDE to USB cable from the old hard drive to move information to the new hard drive, but I need to be able to erase the old hard drive without ruining it because I am giving the old computer to my kid.

Is there still such a thing as "F Disk" and will that erase the drive all the way.

I heard there are programs out there that can erase a hard drive, but I do not know what they are called and I was also told that those programs really do not erase the hard drive all the way.

Thank you for any assistance you can give.

[1002richards]

Hi,
Eraser (free prog) might suit you. This review from TechSupportAlert, link below.


Eraser will securely erase selected files and folders, or even whole disks, located on your hard drive (it works with any drive, including IDE, SCSI and RAID, and CD-RWs). Eraser can overwrite the data area with your choice of a variety of random data patterns, and can also wipe data in the paging file, Internet cache, temporary files, Internet cookies, unused disk space, and a number of other places where data can secretly lurk. It can handle FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS partitions. Erasing files with a high level of security will always be a difficult and time consuming task, and absolute 100% safety cannot be guaranteed. However, Eraser makes the task about as easy as it can be, at a security level that exceeds most conceivable requirements.

Inserted from <http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-secure-erase-utility.htm>

Richard

[arknorth]

As he said - the trick is to ask yourself just how secure you wish to be, since there are many things you can try. You could...

- Replace the HD - since you're in need of keeping your data, there's no rule stating that you couldn't simply add the old HD to the new computer as a second HD and simply install a new HD into the old machine - the only problem would be that you would have to install a new OS into the old machine.

- Hit the RESTORE command on the old PC after saving what you wanted to. Depending on the make and model of this old PC, if it is an old 'package' machine (a pre-made Dell, HP, Compaq, eMachines, etc...) that was purchased after 2001, many have a simple HEAVY RESTORE command (for example, in HP desktop computers, holding the F10 key just after turning it on will activate this function). When this is run, the computer will restore itself to the way it was the day it was turned on, and all data is erased (including any added programs and hardware add-ons).

In either of these cases, you will be wiping the data, but oddly, the data can still be accessed by someone with the proper software to read this type of deleted material. This means that there are only two other options that would be safe -

First - again, simply install a new HD in the old machine and reinstall the OS. Your old HD becomes a paperweight on your desk, or you can install it into the new machine (as stated above) as a second HD.

Second - get a 'Zeroing Program' - this program (free from Seagate/Maxtor) litterally starts on one end of the HD and writes 0s across the entire drive (depending on the size of the drive, this can actually take HOURS to do). This not only clears the old memory, it also removes any bad sectors of data that were labeled BAD simply because of corrupt data (it will not fix bad sectors of the HD if it is a physical/damaged secton of the HD).

Eraser is a good program - I prefer MaxBlast from Seagate/Maxtor.

Good luck!

A-N

[Mr. Newton]

Is this what you want ?
http://www.dban.org/