Swapping my HD.

[SideWinder]

Okay.

I'm swapping my HDD because im not too happy with it.

But that's not my main question here.

Because it contains bank details, i would like to destroy it using a certain software. But, I want to be able to make sure my new HD i'm ordering works first. So, I'd have to take the old HD out. Plug the new one in. See if it works okay. And then put the old one back in to wipe it.

But, I'm scared about breaking my PC through ESD or something.

Can anyone help me figure out a good way to do this?

Also, are LAN drivers Network card drivers? The last time i tried to reformat, i couldnt use the internet, because the network drivers didnt work .

The drivers im talking about in particular are here:

http://us.dfi.com.tw/portal/CM/cmpro...rue&itemId=524

Please help me!

[sahel]

You shouldn't worry too much about ESD when changing only your hdd, should be able to do that without touching anything else inside your computer. If you want to be 100% safe, ground yourself (usually the gasline and waterlines are grounded). I got a nifty writstband at a radioshack like story to do that easily.

What i'd do is install new hdd, install OS on that hdd (be sure to have all the needed drivers at hand). When finished add your original harddisk as secundairy harddisk and use the software of your choice to wipe it clean.

[Fail Whale]

*edit* misread the question first time
Usualy ESD isnt a big problem but as long as you touch a metal part of the case while touching any electrical componants then you cant do any damage
*edit*

The software I use to permanently wipe data beyond recovery is called DBAN available from http://www.dban.org/. It is free software just burn the image to a disk and boot from it. Run the format for as many cycles as you need, I usualy do 8 cycles which will totally erase any information on the disk and will result in noise from any method of trying to read it. For the super paranoid you can also drill a few holes through the whole drive making sure you hit the platters.

[Blake Seven]

For me it would depend on whether I was reusing the HD again or I wanted secure destruction of the data on a redundant disk.

As far as I am concerned there is only 1 type of secure destruction for redundant drives and that is the physical destruction of the drive and it's plates.

[MrWizard]

Are you reformatting beacuse you want to or just because your changing drives? If your existing installation of Windows is working OK, you can just image the old drive to the new drive and Windows won't care. It'll still boot properly.

Its an additional cost, but its worth it if you really don't want to rebuild the entire OS.

www.acronis.com for Acronis TrueImage. They offer a $50 Home version which works great and is very fast.

Symantec also has Ghost, but I haven't used the software in years so I can't speak for the current version.

As for ESD, unless your walking over shag carpets all day long in your socks, just touch the case (Assuming its metal) before you touch anything else and you'll be fine.

And yes, LAN Drivers are network card drivers. Your best bet is to get all the drivers you need together and put them on a CD or a thumb drive before you rebuild.

[Fail Whale]

Originally Posted by Blake Seven

For me it would depend on whether I was reusing the HD again or I wanted secure destruction of the data on a redundant disk.

As far as I am concerned there is only 1 type of secure destruction for redundant drives and that is the physical destruction of the drive and it's plates.

Or you can go British Government Data paranoid where any HDD after it is finished with is given a 12 pass 0+1 format then ground to dust then the dust is locked in a vault. <s> They then give the Data to a civil servant on a DVD who leaves it lyeing on the train.</s>

[Blake Seven]

Originally Posted by Fail Whale

Or you can go British Government Data paranoid where any HDD after it is finished with is given a 12 pass 0+1 format then ground to dust then the dust is locked in a vault. <s> They then give the Data to a civil servant on a DVD who leaves it lyeing on the train.</s>

Yep, good old HM Government, every day they work out new ways of monitoring every last thing we do (ISP record keeping for instance became a legal requirement this week) and all the time inventing seemingly great new ways to lose the precious details once they have taken it from us.

[seanjohn]

Originally Posted by sahel

You shouldn't worry too much about ESD when changing only your hdd, should be able to do that without touching anything else inside your computer. If you want to be 100% safe, ground yourself (usually the gasline and waterlines are grounded). I got a nifty writstband at a radioshack like story to do that easily.

What i'd do is install new hdd, install OS on that hdd (be sure to have all the needed drivers at hand). When finished add your original harddisk as secundairy harddisk and use the software of your choice to wipe it clean.

i agree instead the new hdd but with the old one if your scared about everything with bank details on it being discovered take a stong magnet and stick it to it . it will be destroyed. Just Make sure you BACK IT UP !

[Blake Seven]

Originally Posted by seanjohn

i agree instead the new hdd but with the old one if your scared about everything with bank details on it being discovered take a stong magnet and stick it to it . it will be destroyed. Just Make sure you BACK IT UP !

I used to have a great magnetic cassette tape wiper when I used to duplicate audio services for the blind and housebound, does such a product for HDDs exist?

[Zar]

Originally Posted by Blake Seven

I used to have a great magnetic cassette tape wiper when I used to duplicate audio services for the blind and housebound, does such a product for HDDs exist?

You can degauss a hard drive, but it will ruin it from any other use. If you want to be able to reuse it then use something like DBAN.

If you want to destroy it you can just open it up and scratch the platters or take a sledgehammer to it. Some recyclers will take it and let you watch while they run it through an industrial shredder.