Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jan 09 - 09:26 PM

I'm still going back to places for updates. I'm doing some hardware updates this evening. It seems never-ending

Adobe plays rough with some of it's programs and monitoring the state of it's programs, but those are tucked away in something called "Bonjour," and I know not to tamper with them or my InDesign stuff doesn't work correctly.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Jan 09 - 09:03 PM

Aside from Office 2007 itself being virtually unusable by anyone but idiots and editors (a tautology) I haven't seen it interfering with other programs.

There are a couple of "new" worms loose that specifically attack AV and other malware prevention programs, and that block access even to the Microsoft update site; but with your new installation it wouldn't be likely that you've encountered one of them. The Microsoft Malware Remover reportedly has been updated to remove the most common ones, but unfortunately if you've got one of them you can't get to the update site on an infected machine to get the Remover. (If you can get to the update site you probably don't have an infection by one of them.)

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jan 09 - 07:06 PM

Been tooling along, but today something corrupted my Eudora email, uninstalled AVG, and turned Spybot into a blithering idiot.

I installed MS Office 2007 yesterday. I wonder if there is a connection?

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 05:35 PM

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881/en-us is the Microsoft Knowledge Base article to go to when putting files back into circulation (once you've locked yourself out by reinstalling stuff).

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 10:20 AM

Nothing missing, except that the drive installed in that box has a drive that is locked to the existing system and doesn't show both partitions. A matter to tackle later.

I'm adding in information as I go because six months from now someone will land on Mudcat when searching "eSATA" and "rebuild computer" or some such terms, and this will be here waiting.

It's a real pain to have to go through all of this, but I did enough planning along the way that I think I've ended up with a good setup. I used the printer's parallel cable instead of the previous USB cable and the new enclosure's SATA connector to the mother board instead of the USB option to keep a couple of my USB ports open on the back, and I may be able to retire the hub for a while. These HP computers are well-designed and have a robust set of tools to use.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 01:31 AM

Work has progressed very nicely. Changing out hard drive was so simple, and the enclosure box is the right one, even with that SATA cable (and there are three unused SATA plugs on the mother board), but there may be a piece missing. I'll check when I install that tomorrow. No need to pester the folks at Fry's, except for the cable, if I need it.

There are still a few bugs to work out, but the planning in advance helped a lot with this job. Tomorrow the big programs get installed.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 01:10 PM

NewEgg charges a 15% restocking fee on returns. Since we're so close to the holidays, I'll take it over to Frys without the receipt and see if they'll take it as a gift returned for exchange. I have printouts of the NewEgg prices so if I need to negotiate a price on the replacement, I'm set.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 09:02 AM

This is 640G, so I think it should be easy enough to change to one partition with NTFS.

You're right about the enclosures, and somehow in looking at everything else about the box, and having what I thought was the identical box already working with an EIDE cable on my desktop, I don't know how I managed to get this other one. My connector choices outside are eSATA or USB, but inside the box there isn't a spare little piece of cable to connect the drive. I'll have to send this one back and either pick up a new one at Fry's (with the printout for the price of this one so they meet the price) or wait and put the old HD back in later when NewEgg sends me the correct one.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 03:17 AM

The data connectors on SATA drives are similar to the connectors for EIDE drives, but are shorter, narrower, and with closer spaced pins. I don't recall whether the number of pins is exactly the same, but since you can't plug one kind into the mate for the other kind it's sort of academic. The power connectors are also a bit different.

Most of the USB boxes I've been able to get accept EIDE drives ONLY.

Other boxes accept SATA drives ONLY.

I do have a couple that accept either EIDE or SATA drives inside, with the same USB cable on the outside, but they've been hard to find in my area and are a "significant small bit" more expensive than either of the single-kind kind.

Since the connectors on the two HD types are different, if you don't have an obvous pair of connectors in the box that fits the drive you have, then you have a box for the other kind of drive. (or so it would appear)

***

You should be able to insert any setup CD/DVD without it taking off without permission if you hold down the shift key while you insert it (and for a couple of seconds after). This is supposed to lock out any autorun command on the disk. (Some time back, it took me a while to figure out that a Gateway computer had a setup disk that did nothing, and the actual WinXP Installation disk was labelled "Drivers." There's apparently a lot of different disguises from different OEMs.)

For WinXP, it would be expected that the install program would ask if you want a FAT32 drive formatted as NTFS or left as FAT32 in any case; but especially if you manually launch the installation.

NTFS is preferable from a performance standpoint, and WinXP - at least in early versions - CANNOT FORMAT A FAT32 disk/partition of the size(s) you have, so if you allow the install program to re-format using FAT32 you'll likely lose access to most of the drive.

If you want to clean the disk and start fresh, WinXP can format NTFS of any reasonable/conceivable size (up to either 2TB or 32TB, I don't recall which is the theoretical limit).

A couple of earlier Windows versions could format larger FAT32 partitions than WinXP can handle, and I believe Win2K was one of them that could; but I can't guarantee it, so check it out before you launch it if you decide to start over and do a full format and have some reason for wanting to keep FAT32.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 01:24 AM

The new enclosure doesn't have a cable that will fit from my existing hard drive to the case, it is an e-SATA. I didn't realize it was a different cable, and while it says it is also USB, there isn't a different connection (IDE) though I think it is intended to have one. I'll look at the mother board and see if it has a connection for this cable, but I still need an internal cable for the drive. I may have to send this box back.

Since I can't put a drive in this box, I'm going to put the new hard drive directly into the computer and boot it with Partition Magic and format the disk as NTFS. I may make a separate partition at that time, but my main goal is to have the disk format I want.

Looks like this will begin tomorrow, I took too long research the eSATA this evening. Bummer. I'd like to have this finished one of these days.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 07:08 PM

No one at work today had any new insights to add to this.

The HP recovery disks actually put the OS in beside or around, or anyway, someplace other than on top of the old. I had to use the HP disks to get it running as it is now and the old stuff is still there, but none of it shows up on the registry. In another thread I talked about trying to reach that data (I used a tidbit offered by John in Kansas to get permission to share or take possession of my files. I'll have to do it again once I finish with this new hard drive.

I have Partition Magic, so I suppose I could also use that to format and partition this new drive, and the OS would go on the new C: I have had good luck putting data on another drive, but I have to remember to catch the program when it wants to use its default settings, otherwise I end up with data all over the place. I could simply park My Documents on a separate partition drive vs. physical drive (then I wouldn't have to remember to turn on the external drive every day, or more likely, forget and let it run all night when the computer is off).

I'm clearing off my workspace in here, getting ready to finish some work, print out a few things, then get started. This looks like it's about as much fun as next week's colonoscopy, only this takes longer. :(

I'm going to pull out my Adobe software to see what it requires to install it again. It wants to go to the same place it was installed before, meaning the computer has to have the same name and hierarchy.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Newport Boy
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 10:57 AM

SRS - I wrote all that before I saw your last post. My most recent installations were on bare SATA drives (both Samsung). Installation of WinXP and Ubuntu Linux went ahead without any need for manufacturer's drivers or utilities.

Phil

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Newport Boy
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 10:52 AM

If I read your original query correctly, the 'rescue disks' are HP versions of WinXP Home - ie, plus drivers, special software, etc. Most such disks re-install the OS and software as it was from the manufacturer, and every one I've encountered formats the hard disk to do that (so all existing files are wiped).

HP have a tendency to do things their way, and this may not include a normal installation of WinXP - the 'rescue disk' may simply write the whole disk sector by sector to give the complete installation. In this case you probably won't get an option to choose the filesystem.

If it does run a normal WinXP installation, you should be offered the choice of disk, partition and filesystem, although in the case of single, unpartioned disks it will sometimes make the choice for you.

Re your other point on a programs/data partition, I have tried installing all my programs on a separate partition from the OS, but enough of them make it impossible, and many make it difficult, that I've given up doing this. I do keep my data on a separate partition, mainly for convenience of backup plus the ability to reinstall the OS and programs without disturbing the data. As JiK says, this is not really necessary on a NTFS volume, but I still like the data separate from the OS. These days, my data partition is always on a different physical disk, backed up regularly to a partition on the first disk.

Phil

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 10:15 AM

Thanks! I found reference to discrepancies in the file managemant between XP Home vs. Pro. I'm working averages here--I posted this query and I sent a large thumbnail sketch of this computer situation to an electrical engineer computer guru friend, and I'll see how the advice supports or contrasts. It looks like (from what the OS discussion I read said) that using the enclosure and this iteration of Windows (the rcovered XP Pro I'm limping along with until the redo) to format that drive, then install and let XP Home get started with drivers and upgrade from there might be best.

Western Digital's 2-page poster on their site that gives the installation information offers two options. This arrived as a bare drive, wrapped in the anti-static bag and bubble wrap, no box, no kit, no nothin'. If it had been a retail kit it would have included their "Data Lifeguard Disk" with information and drivers and 95% of the two pages would have applied to this installation. The Alternate Installation method (included in the last box at the bottom of the second page) is as follows:

Install a Single Hard Drive

1. Boot from the Windows XP or Windows 2000 Installation CD.
2. Follow the directions as prompted.

There you have it, in a very small nutshell. :)

My nose is getting stuffy just thinking about all of the dust I'm going to be stirring up later today.

Thanks!

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 12:26 AM

Stilly -

Most of the information I have from Microsoft is rather old, and refers mostly to Win2K and earlier, and to early WinXP.

A caution appears in several of them indicating that attempting to use WinXP alone to format large disks may cause you to lose access to much of the drive space - and these articles make reference to "hard drives over 2 GB" as being "large." And quick searches now still refer to the same dated articles.

It appears that WinXP can convert a FAT32 drive to NTFS, and it's safe to do the conversion with files on the disk, since it is not a format - it largely just rewrites the root index tables, and in NTFS they're "movable" so they can be fitted in with existing files.

Article 307881: How to convert a FAT16 volume or a FAT32 volume to an NTFS file system in Windows XP.

From an operating standpoint, there's no good reason to partition an NTFS drive. If you need to separate programs and data you can just make a Data folder and put the stuff that needs to be kept separate there, and it's easy enough to map the Data folder in Win Explorer so that it looks like a separate drive/partition if you like to think that way.

If you really need to do a fresh format, especially on a large hard drive, I'd recommend that you check with WD first, and see if the have a drive setup utility - that you can find. I'm sure they have the utility, and that it's available. It's the finding it that may be problematic. I've used Seagate's utility a couple of times recently, since that's what my drives were that needed some setup, and theirs seems to be in a different place every time I look for it. WD may be better, or worse.

WinXP has a fairly robust "Disk Management" plugin in the Management Console in XP Pro, but I'm not sure that any of the MMC is in XP Home(?), and/or whether Disk Management is present in self-standing form in Home. I've looked, quite a while back, and Microsoft doesn't seem to want Home users to know what's missing.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 10:22 PM

Oh, F***. I just wrote a long detailed question and it went away.

I have to replace my hard drive, and I will use a WD SATA 640G drive, now formatted as Fat32. I have always thought NTFS is much better. I'm putting this on my HP a820n, Pentium 4, fast, no problem space or speed-wise. No room inside the box for a master/slave setup, though. No disk cage, just screw it onto the frame.

I plan to remove all of the extras I've installed on this machine, unplug printer, scanner, hubs, etc., go back to one monitor and remove the NVidia card for now, and then use the HP WinXP Home "rescue" disks I made when I first got the computer. This is to get the drivers and the usual useful programs and tons of crap they add in. I will then upgrade to XP Pro, uninstall crap, then add in my devices and drivers and software.

My query is this. Will XP Home recognize that it is writing to a brand new hard drive and ask me if I want to format the drive, giving me options, or will it simply write on the format that is there? If I go straight to XP Pro I won't get the HP protocols, drivers, and names that some of my software may require in order to be reinstalled on this machine. (Adobe in particular). Should I instead set up the new HD enclosure (I plan to put my existing internal drive into this for a backup) but use it to first format this larger HD? I'm not planning to partition it at this time, though I may. I used to keep all of my programs and data on a D: drive, even though it was still on the same physical disk, to protect it from some problems. I may do that again. Any thoughts? Data only on D, or Data and Programs?

I posted here because John mentioned some Seagate software that is used for formatting disks. I won't try to recreate my whole thing (I can't believe I didn't immediately check to see if this message "took" after I hit "submit message." I don't have Word up and running now, it is bare bones until the replacement).

I'll start this tomorrow, it will take too long and I'm tired. This is not the kind of thing to start when you're tired, it's too easy to make stupid mistakes when you are tired. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Paul Burke
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 08:22 AM

Funny you should mention Heidi: look at the URL for this free secure erase utility.

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: danensis
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 08:14 AM

You may be exercising excessive paranoia. On the one hand, if someone wanted to, they could extract data no matter how many times you write on the disk, as the heads are not always exactly in the same place, and some peripheral trace of magnetism may remain.

On the other hand, the technicians will probably fire up the drive, have a quick look for p0rn, and if there's nothing worth copying, chuck it in the skip before sending you a replacement.

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: bruceCMR
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 01:07 PM

Check out http://www.heidi.ie Heidi Eraser or www.dban.org (Darik's Boot&Nuke)

dban is the one to use if you're disposing of a machine and want to clean everything. heidi eraser is more selective.

Both free and open source.

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: treewind
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 11:03 AM

Boot up a Linux Live CD
Get a root console and type
dd of=/dev/xxx if=/dev/zero

(where /dev/xxx is the device address of your USB drive)

Wait (a long time) until it fails with an "out of space" error. Job done.
You can use /dev/urandom instead of /dev/zero if you like. Guess what will be written to the disk...

I've done it with a laptop HD, worked a treat.

Anahata

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 05:56 AM

Considering the price of storage these days write it off and buy a new one.

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 02:27 AM

You still can download a setup tool from Seagate. I've used it a couple of times with WinXP.

The last time I looked, it was good for 30 days, but you can download it again the next time you need it. It's primarily intended for setting up a new drive on your computer; but it does allow full format that writes "blanks" to all the bits, partitioning, and it allows you to "mirror" another drive onto a new one.

There were some difficulties with "suitability" for various versions/flavors of operating systems, so you'd have to check when you need it and work things out appropriately for your immediate situation; but it should be easy enough to find. I've seen multiple changes in the exact name of the program so I'll leave it to anyone who wants it to figure out what it's called now.

Western Digital has a similar utility; but I havent' used theirs so I don't know what their terms and conditions are. WD more generally expects you to use the disk that comes with a new hard drive - or the utility that's preinstalled on the new drive and seems(?) a little less open to providing it to strangers who knock on their door at night. (Which may just be a false impression due to "I ain't looked very hard.")

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Gurney
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 12:36 AM

I've used Seagate harddrive tools to do a HD wipe, but not since I had W98SE. It is so thorough that not even partitions are left on the drive. WAS a free download, worked from a floppy, very very slowly, on Seagate and (with a warning) Quantum drives.

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 07:22 PM

Midchuck -

Mr Redface has the problem that he wants to get a warranty replacement for the hard drive. To do that, he must return the failed drive to the manufacturer.

I'm not sure that they'd honor the warranty if he returns one with a bullet hole in it, and the truly paranoid probably already know that quite a lot can be recovered from hard drives that have been dropped from airplanes, tossed into campfires, or suffered other extreme abuse. It is not necessary to have even the entire platter from a hard drive to obtain "some data" from a broken one, although it's incredibly expensive and only the FBI (or a few other very zealous prosecuters) can afford to do it.

With 350GB hard drives going for <$200 in some places, maybe the warranty replacement isn't a good trade-off for the risk(?); but there'd need to be real concern before I'd resort to that, even if my "art collection" does include some "classic beauties."

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Midchuck
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 07:07 PM

When I retired an old computer that had been used in the office and still had a lot of privileged client material on it, I physically removed the hard drive before putting the computer in the "free pile" at our yard sale.

The drive is sitting on a high shelf until I get out to do target shooting again.

P.

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 06:22 PM

Addend:

I'm not familiar with Glary Utilities, but it's quite probable that the "undelete" info is contained in a "Glary Utilities Folder." If so, it may be on the drive where the utility is installed, and is not necessarily on the drive you're trying to clean(?).

If possible, you might try uninstalling Glary Utilities, to remove its record folder, and then reinstall it. (Be sure to use the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs to uninstall, if the program is shown there. After removal, check for any "remnant folders" where it was installed before reinstalling.)

A normal Windows delete keeps a record of deleted files only as long as they're in the "Recycle bin" but should discard the record when the bin is emptied. In WinXP (and most recent Win versions) you can hold down the Shift key when you choose delete to prevent files from going to Recycle bin, which might give a different result.

If you're really concerned about what's in the System Volume Information folder, Microsoft KB 309531 gives instructions for how to look at what's there.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 05:56 PM

A Format of a hard drive may only replace the cluster markers, leaving files recoverable (sometimes one cluster at a time, which is tedious).

Even overwriting with new files may leave "recoverable" bits of the old files, unless sufficient multiple overwrites are used to "bury" the original bits.

Back when I was forced to deal with "security issues" a.la. government regulations, the preferred utility was a Norton Utilities "Disk Wipe" that included an optional "Tempest Secure" routine that:

1. Wrote all zeros to every empty bit-space on on the drive.
2. Wrote all ones to every one of the same bit-spaces on the drive
3. Repeated steps 1 and 2 SIX TIMES.

There probably are numerous utility programs available now that will do a similar "secure delete" but I don't have one to recommend.

Many hard drive (and other equipment salvage/recycling operators) now physically shred hard drives. Your first option is to ASK THE MANUFACTURER what their policy is on recycling of returned drives. IF THEY HAVE a published policy that looks safe enough, you probably can trust them to not look at your data, or to allow it to be "passed on" to someone who might attempt to look at it.

If you really need to be sure of "secure wiping" your simplest option would be to get a utility that offers what you want.

You should be aware that for older hard drive formats, through FAT32, there is a specific limit on the number of files that can be written to the root folder of a drive, so "amateur" attempts to write a full disk may fail. For FAT12 or FAT16, used on older floppies, the root folder can contain only about 256 or 512 files (and folder is a file. For older hard drives, the number may be more like 1032 or 2064, since the root sector of the file must record the "starting cluster" for each file, and there are a limited number of bits to record these "first cluster locations" - and hence a limited number of files that can be written. For NTFS format, the limit is "very large" depending on free space available to expand the "table."

A folder on the drive can contain any number of files, so you need to delete all, then create ONE FOLDER in which to "write over everything" with a bunch of junk. And then do the write-over multiple times - including deleting the folder and making a new one - with a different bunch of junk each time.

Even this is not totally "secure" in all cases, since you probably will need to leave the OS in place and some data - and data recovery info - may be contained in "System Files" within the OS. (Since you're indicating a USB drive, there shouldn't be any critical System Files on the drive you want to wipe, so this shouldn't be a problem in your case. Note though that the "recovery info" you're seeing may be coming from your System Hard Drive and not necessarily from the external USB drive, depending on your OS.)

Manual wiping can be extremely tedious, especially with larger drives, without a suitable utility.

ASK THE VENDOR who will get the failed drive about recyling policies first. If their answer is not satisfactory, then get a good utility that offers "secure disk wipe."

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 05:17 PM

BCWipe plus a defrag ought to do it. If you still see file names, RENAME them with one of several free renamimg programs....they will do batch renaming....replace all files names with 'little birdies 001...002..etc.'

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 03:38 PM

What MMario said, overwrite the thing a couple of times, that's how companies usually eliminate old data, by writing over the top of it.

Formatting after you overwrite, maybe, to get rid of some of those directories, but I'd still do the overwrite thing.

That or an ice pick and a magnet, but then the store might not buy your story about the flaw with the drive in the first place.

How is it you can do all of this diagnostic stuff on a flawed hard drive? Usually when they're dead they're dead and you have to access them in the slave drive position. Is that what you're doing? And you can write to it this way, but it doesn't work with the OS?

If you're looking for something big to write onto it to save time, versus lots of tiny files, films are anywhere from 4 to 9 gig. Run Shrink DVD (if you have Nero and an operating system older than VISTA) and copy a few of your DVDs onto your computer and part the files on that drive, each in its own folder (or it will overwrite the last one). You could do one or two large films and drop the contents into different folder names and cover the top of that hard drive pretty quickly.

SRS

P.S. Considering your predicament, if I were you I'd stick with the G-rated variety for your overwriting.

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 03:34 PM

You could get hold of a disc wipe program that allows wiping of directory entries for deleted files. Here's one from a search: BCWipe; I've never used this and I haven't looked for reviews (though there is a review on that page) but it seems to allow what you want.

If you don't like this have a quick search for disc wipe programs - there are plenty of them, free as well as to buy, and I'm sure many of them must have directory wipe as well.

Mick

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: GUEST,goodlife
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 03:26 PM

is this the only drive if not why not just format the usb drive

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: MMario
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 01:58 PM

make a teensy tiny file. like one character. fill the drive with copies of it. delete them. You could do this with a batch file renaming and copying the file over and over.
That should overwrite the directory entries as well as the data space.

Subject: RE: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: GUEST,Mr Redface
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 01:57 PM

Is it any thing to do with the log held in the USB Drive's
System Volume Information folder ?

Tried but totally failed to open this folder for inspection.
I am denied access, even in safe mode logged in as Admin ?
btw, PC installed with Home XP sp3

Subject: Tech: Erasing Hard Drive deleted files ?
From: GUEST,Mr Redfaced
Date: 02 Dec 08 - 01:48 PM

Hi.. I need to return a faulty USB Hard drive for replacement.
Its 320 Gig and been used to store all sorts of personal data
and downloaded 'material'

[ I'm a 'normal' middle aged bloke.. yes of course theres been some of 'that' stored on there..]

So I deleted all the contents and ran Glary Utilities 'Wipe Free Space' file shredder function;
but now when I look in Glary Utilities
'File Undelete' it still shows all the complete file names
of the deleted/shredded data.

I tried recovering some deleted files,
eg.. "Milf Heidi loves her zither strummed.wmv 245.10 MB"
[ok.. made that one up.. but its representitive of some of the content]
which although still being their origional size do now seem to be safely unreadable
in their usual media playing software.

So I spent an entire evening over writing the Disc again with rubbish files named with safe bland titles.
Now I've deleted all this.
But find that instead of, as hoped, the origional data titles had been replaced,
File Undelete still records all the origional file content names
as well as the new ones.

So how can I easily access the hidden hard drive log that contains all these deleted file names, and erase all traces
before returning to the shop ?

Seriously, even if all the data has been safely shredded and overwritten beyond normal recovery.
Its still a concern that a nosey bored shop technician
can still easily read all the names of the deleted personal files
which include mostly confidential financial and business related
subject titles.