Formatting and even deleteing the partitions will not hide your info. Only the material that gets fully written over will not be recoverable.
A prog I found today (& not yet tried)...
http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/
Wipe Out
as the name implies, this utility will absolutely WIPE your hard drive. For those times when an industrial strength cleaner is needed to remove any pesky files Fdisk may have left behind. A readme file is included in the zip file. WARNING...WIPE OUT will remove ALL data from the Hard Drive.
WARNING
The use of WIPEOUT can and will result in the loss of ALL data on your hard drive.
DIRECTIONS
1- Unzip file
2- Copy WIPEOUT to a Win9x boot disk
3- Boot with Win9x disk
4- At the A:\> type "wipeout c: /nq /np" (no quotes)
/nq = no queries - you will not be asked if you are sure.
/np = no partitions - this will overwrite the MBR
Another I have not tried....
Clean Disk
http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/clndisk.html
latest version
v6.3 (v6.0 was a major upgrade)
(Only 0.6 Mb)
- Comprehensive disk cleaning for the very tightest security (for Win95, Win98, WinME, WinNT, Win2000, WinXP) -
What is Clean Disk Security? - This program gives you secure file deletion, making sure that deleted files cannot be undeleted again. Deleting a file normally just removes the file's directory entry, but the data itself remains on the disk. This program completely eliminates the contents of deleted files. The highly acclaimed Gutmann disk cleaning method is now available as an option. This program can also clean the Window's swap file, and can optionally clean unneeded temporary files from your hard disk, such as your Internet browser cache, files in your system's Recycle Bin, and can clear the "recent files" list. Comes with a direct disk viewer for discovering exactly what is on your hard disk.
- Don't sell your hard drive before cleaning it with Clean Disk Security ™! -
And to see a before and after test.....
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm
95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
In order to display the HTML help files on WINDOWS 95, you need to download and install the "HTML HELP SUPPORT" from the MICROSOFT Web-site. This is already included in WINDOWS 98/ME/NT/2000/XP
Under Windows XP you will have to have Administrator rights, so that all logical drives will be displayed to you.
PC INSPECTOR™ File Recovery 3.x is freeware. By freeware is meant programs that can be obtained, used and distributed free of charge.
PC INSPECTOR™ File Recovery 3.x is a data recovery software tool that is made available free of charge. Please note that you may only use the software if you agree to the following license conditions. CONVAR does not provide any support for PC INSPECTOR™ File Recovery 3.x.
PC INSPECTOR™ File Recovery is a data recovery program that supports the FAT 12/16/32 and NTFS file systems. The current version 3.x replaces the previous version 2.x, which is now over 6 years old.
Here are some of the new features in PC INSPECTOR™ File Recovery 3.x
Finds partitions automatically, even if the boot sector or FAT has been erased or damaged (does not work with the NTFS file system)
Recovers files with the original time and date stamp
Supports the saving of recovered files on network drives
Recovers files, even when a header entry is no longer available. Competition products cannot recover such files. The "Special Recovery Function" supports the following disk formats:
ARJ AVI BMP CDR DOC DXF DBF XLS EXE GIF HLP HTML HTM JPG LZH MID MOV MP3 PDF PNG RTF TAR TIF WAV ZIP
HOW TO USE
After starting the program, you should first select the desired language. A menu will then appear in which you can select from three different reconstruction methods.
On the next page you can chose one of three reconstruction possibilities. The program includes an extensive html help
Please note that PC INSPECTOR™ File Recovery 3.x cannot reconstruct files from data carriers that are mechanically or electronically damaged. You should only use data recovery software if you are very confident in the use of your PC.
If your hard disk or other data carrier has a mechanical or electronic defect or you do not feel confident in the use of data recovery software, we suggest that you contact a data recovery company such as "CONVAR - The Recovery Team".
http://www.convar.com/
And another.....
Disk Investigator
http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/dskinv.html
latest version v1.3
- FREEWARE -
(Only 0.5 Mb)
Discover all that is hidden on your hard disk
(for Win95, Win98, WinME, WinNT, Win2000, WinXP)
What is Disk Investigator? - Disk Investigator helps you to
discover all that is hidden on your computer hard disk.
It can also help you to recover lost data. Display the true drive contents by bypassing the operating system and directly reading the raw drive sectors. View and search raw directories, files, clusters, and system sectors. Verify the effectiveness of file and disk wiping programs. Undelete previously deleted files.
Please report back on the effectiveness of which ever programs you use.
Ekaterina Gordeeva has got fit legs {:-P~
oops! wrong forum
