How To Securely Erase Data From Your Laptop - 3 Pro Tips!
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- Опубликовано: 19 сен 2024
- How do you erase data off a laptop so it’s secure and completely wiped clean? If you’re ever considering selling a laptop or even wiping hard drives or SSDs so you can resell them or destroy them, watch this first so you do it the right way the first time.
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Writing random data to a drive a whole bunch of times is my preferred method (most times using dd in macos/linux). If you want to get more paranoid up the amount of times. But if you have data that is sensitive physical destruction is a must. Also watching those commercial shredders eat drives is awesome.
I love commercial shredders!! Mwahaha
If I am getting rid of a drive, is a flashlight sized electric stun gun device okay?
c4 will be more reliable xxD@@RobertJohnson-lb3qz
If you want to keep (say) the OS on the drive, but make sure that you have cleaned the 'deleted' areas so they're unrecoverable, you can use the Windows command-line tool CIPHER /W to clean all unused disk space (it writes to all empty space 3 times - 0s, 1s/255s, then randoms). It won't get the 'wear levelling' areas, but will clear the rest.
Best thing to do is to encrypt your laptop as soon as you get it, this way you don't have to worry about erasing anything. Although, I personally would just remove the hard drive and destroy it if I was selling the laptop.
I recently just bought a new laptop and I immediately removed the hard drive it came with and put in my own 1TB NVME, installed FreeBSD on it, and encrypted it. If I ever have to sell it, I could just put in the original hard drive that has a fresh install of Win10, and has never been used.
I mentioned encryption and destroying the drive in my video ☺️
@@ShannonMorse Yes, I know.
I wrote the comment before watching the whole video and I also wanted to share what I personally do with respect to protecting my data.
Good ole DBAN. What a treat! 😁 I believe the newer SSDs / NVMEs have self encryption enabled. Like you said in the video use the manufacture's tool to reset that encryption key and you're done in seconds vs hours with traditional erasing tools.
Do most companies help their customers out by providing these tools if asked?
I'm working on a Mac, so I'll use the Disk Utility application to erase and re-format the drive. This application includes a few different options for securely erasing the data. It then reformats the drive so that the OS can use it again. Once the disk is empty and reformatted, I have a program of my own that I run which fills up the disk with random data. It'll loop around creating files of some large size, one at time, and filling each one with random data. As disks get larger, the size of this first round of files also gets larger. Eventually the disk is completely full with these random files. I throw those all into the trash, and empty the trash. I then run the program a second time, but this time the files it creates are smaller, probably 89% smaller than the first size. I then take those files, throw them in the trash and empty the trash.
In theory I'd do this a third or fourth time, but by then I'm annoyed at how long it takes to do all of this, so I declare victory and am willing to give the disk to someone else for them to use.
If there's some kind of problem with the disk such that I can't erase it via software, then I'll do physical damage to the drive. Not as extreme as you describe in the video, but enough such that your average thief isn't going to bother to try to read any data off the disk. I'm sure someone like the CIA could do it, but then there's nothing on my disk that the CIA would care about. I'm just trying to protect myself from people who are looking for passwords to my bank accounts, or other financial information that's important to *me* but not to any government agencies!
Another option is to
1. boot on windows cd/iso/usb
2. in the setup menu -> Press shift+F10 that will give an dos prompt
3. type "diskpart" and then type "list disk" to see disk numbers
4. type "select disk X" where X is the number of the drive to delete
5. Type "clean all" note the "all" on the clean command is important because that tells the clean command to overwrite every sector
6. You now have an clean disk there is fully overwritten and data can not be recovered with any tools.
I know and has validate this because my work is Incident response and Forensics and i use this almost daily to clean used disk media
Diskpart is awesome!
Thanks. I just tried this on an internal SSD. The "clean all" command takes a while to complete; writing all those zeros, I guess. Afterwards, the Windows Disk Management utility was used to reformat the drive, assign a letter designation, and name. The process was pretty straightforward.
That's a clever idea encrypting the whole drive before a format! Great video, love your stuff
Exactly what I thought. I've been wiping disks for decades and had never heard of this before but it makes all kinds of sense.
I know of this as I do this all the time when this is needed.
Nice, I used to work for a company that basically did just this. I can't remember the software we used (booted from floppy), but there were different levels that you can choose for data wipes. It would write all 1's and 0's on the entire disk however many times you specify. I also got to work in the area where we had a press that crushed drives. Hot tip, if you have a laptop HDD, the platters can shatter very easily by slapping it on the ground 😄
There is also a linux command called "shred" does much the same. Personally, I just pull the drives from any computer I'm trying to get rid of, and let the person who buys it deal with putting in a new disk and installing an OS. Then I just keep my old disks in secure storage.
Thanks, didn’t know that about SSD and NVE drives.
I typically used format with the /p:4 switch.
Aloha! My $99 Acer laptop has a non-removable SSD chip it in. I suppose the way to deal with that...in the hopefully distant future...would be to take a drill to it when the time comes to send it to e-waste. Mahalo for making me THINK!
Thank you. Good coverage of the issues with securely erasing SSDs is hard to find and greatly appreciated. (Datapoint - this ran without ads for me.)
Whenever I watch a Shannon video, I learn about 2 to 3 softwares that I didnt know about before lol. Im getting a true education. Thanks as usual for your informative videos! Also, say lap/lab top however you want 😂
A lot of,people use to just do the following
Step 1. Press "Windows+R" and type “CMD” in the Run box to open Command Prompt window.
Step 2. Type “format X: /fs:NTFS /p:1”(X is the drive letter of your hard drive, NTFS is the file system, p:1 means writing zeros to every sector once) and press Enter.
You can type “p:2” to write zeros to each sector for twice.
Are you going to remove all those stickers before selling?😂 Do they increase the value or decrease it?
The smile on your face when you ask for the power drill :)
Hahaha 🤣 I had to leave that in
No doubt there will ge a whole bunch of comments on other ways to securely delete storage. Resetting Windows and then using either SDELETE (Free from SysInternals) or cipher /w (included with Windows) will do a good enough job. If you're really concerned with cleaning normall inaccessible system areas then replace the drive and destroy the origiinal 😉
I heard that if you get one of those pink erasers and vigorously rub all the platters, your data is erased. Make sure you burn the eraser shrapnel for added security. (This works for ssd as well but you rub the transistors instead) It needs to be the pink erasers, and not any other color as the pink pigment is the only pigment molecule that binds electrons properly. Disclaimer: Dont trust comments you read without independent research.
After secure deleting always took ages, I started just finding one huge file - usually a movie I legally acquired - and fill the drive with copies of it. what I started doing nowadays, just dd if=/udev/random of=/drive to fill up
I do that two or three times and am then happy..
Your smile at the end, priceless...
I still use dban for hdd and dd in case I can't really take the drive out (then load a live OS like FreeBSD that has dd installed). Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing these tips. Blessings on your day!
Thankyou. Your vids are great. So thorough.
Glad you like them!
This was why I did once love hak5 content and it's why I love this channel. I remember as a kid wanting to get into cyber these sorts of simple breakdowns being invaluable. Thank you Shannon 🎉
Nice thanks for the post Shannon ☺️☺️
My pleasure!!
@@ShannonMorse 😺😺
Hello, I hope you are very well, I have a cold but it is not serious, I liked the video and I also love your videos on your RUclips channel very much, you deserve to have many successes and followers Shannon 🥰💖✨
I hope your cold gets better soon 💗
I had forgot about DBAN, I have been using Kill Disk! Yep it name says what it does to a Drive. Kills / wipes the drive with several options!
IT consultant here. If I'm re-homing a computer, I remove the original hard drive or SSD and leave that with the client who brought in the laptop, telling them to hold onto the drive for six months and then re-use it for their own purposes or destroy it. At their option, I'll resell them a USB enclosure for the drive so they can use it that way. I then install a brand new SSD in the computer and load a fresh OS. If the computer is being donated, then it's just a little extra donation from me. If it's being resold, then I add it to the price of the computer. SSDs up to 1TB are cheap nowadays, so I see little reason to worry about hard drives that might fail in short order or SSDs that might not be possible to completely erase.
The video content is super useful as usual, but boy is that t-shirt super cool.
What about using PGP 4096 bit keys to secure data then delete all the files and forget the key.
Fire, fire is always a good option for ssd's, old drives I flatten using the Gutman method of random data and zeros and then use the platters for coffee mug coasters 😁
I use full disc encryption
Heartstrings for your XPS Dev model 🤗
When I read the title, DBAN came to mind, still use it till this day
I remember a program called DOD WIPE. Not sure what platform it worked on, received a disk from a friend some 30 years ago. Probably DOS or Win 3.1.
I just use ata secure erase with SSDs as it essentially rerolls the security key, making all data garbage.
Using the DD command with a random wiping Linux is what I use to wipe drive when I bring up a pc for my family and friends :) :)
Thank you for your content and I hope you are having a great day
God bless you and your family
God bless you
Jeremy Scruggs
Your hair is always fun and cool but for some reason it’s particularly cool in this video.
Oh thanks! I just got it redone at my stylist!
I prefer the encryption style of Erasing storage media. I did data erasure and R2 audits for years. I miss playing with DBAN, I remembered an abandon project of DBAN that made it look like you were booting into windows very slowly but it was DBAN was running in the background
For older HDDs with spinning disks, I always use Win98 boot floppy disk to low level format with Fdisk.
I use a combination of scripted tools for either SSD of magnetic disks. But there is also Blancco, the tool.
Hi Shannon,
Very informative, but if I just want to make sure any deleted data is erased on a computer I am currently using?
Essentially overwrite the deleted trash can, I’m sure you know what I mean.
What tool do I use for that? Is there something already in Windows 10 installation?
DBAN damn I havent that one in years. for completely destroying SSD's I put 240VAC across it, and then stick it in a glass jar of Muriatic acid.
Crushing storage media devices is the most secured to DoD Standards especially of you disposing the drive.
So I'm guessing magnets don't do the trick anymore? I remember back in the day hackers in movies would always put a magnet on their hard drive. Don't hear anyone mention that method anymore though
I use old disks generally as archives/backups, so never sell working drives, but when they 'appear' to be failing I trash them by hammering a pointed steel chisel through the casing and into the platters.
Not yet had to trash an SSD, but I 'assume' that a few strikes with a hammer should take care of it.
you could always just remove the hd, ssd, storage device... and keep it. I still have my hd from my first 286, and all in between.
have a great day
Some of those drive platters are glass and will shatter! Don’t use the hammer without proper protection.
If you want to reuse the drive then you can use a free linux distro like dban and do a minimum of a 3 pass wipe which is us government standard or if you want to be more secure give it extra pass wipes but it cant do ssds but something like red key usb can do ssds. But it does cost money.
As i was typing this shannon mentioned it dban
I did not know shred os was a thing but again red key USB can wipe ssds
i use linux command example sudo shred -vz -n 6 /dev/sdd n meaning number of wipe can be what ever u want and also one pass of zero u can use a live usb linux mint to do this shred is installed on linux by default if u want to delete main hdd fyi
I don't understand why SSD manufacturers don't have a simple, full erase function that can be easily accessed. There should be an industry standard for this. Of course, there is the trust issue. How would you know it was fully erased? You can't verify SSD erasure.
Full Disk Encryption is the only for sure solution.
I work for a government agency in IT. We are required to degauss all magnetic storage and shred all SSD’s and NVMe’s. Data is guaranteed gone.
Can I just copy over the shredos img to a usb or do i have burn it using rufus?
Yeah i was wondering how do i reset my laptop to factory reset for resale or just to start over fresh
So I recently bought a little ChromeOS netbook, ND I went to turn it on to wipe the drive, but it didn't even show which key for bios. I've tried looking it to and ppl have said to try like hold shift+k or a couple other various commands, but none of them worked. Any suggestions?
I never sold any of my computers, and I usually hold on to drives until they die. What we need are some tools that overwrite free space under running windows/linux, like the Eraser and FileShredder does for HDD. No one has time (or knowledge) to use the TRIM function. Plus, I don't even think that's working. I tested it on my system drive and I could recover files with plain old Recuva...
I use self tapping screws.
Can you please make a tutorial video showing how you make ad free videos? I've noticed that anytime I get a notification and click to watch your videos, there are no ads, it goes straight to your content unlike almost all other videos on RUclips. Thank you beforehand
My videos are all monetized, but RUclips seems to think your view is invalid! Apparently they consider some traffic "fake" and as such, I don't get paid for that view. I'm actually losing a ton of revenue because of it. So... you not seeing an ad on my video is not by my choice.
@@ShannonMorse Alright, Geek Shannon
@@ShannonMorse but why would RUclips consider my view to be invalid and traffic coming from my network as also "fake"?
When I do sell/hand downl my used laptop/pc I just get buy new ssd/hdd/m.2 reasonable capacity and keep the old storage device.
I personally normally use Linux so I would just use the built-in shred command on the device file for the drive I want to erase
I used to bleech it for a bit but now I have a pair of tools and a torch😌 I also think the encrypt then overwrite sounds like an option but I never sell old drives,If I can't use them they get destroyed. BTW is fileshredder any good? Does it actually shred without leaving stuff in free space?
For SSD just write zeros all over the place. For HDD you should probably go with random data and do at least some iterations to get rid of any traces
I pull the battery and use it as target practice
Love this. I need to get my M9 out and hit a HDD haha
thankfully work provides lots of drives to use as practice. all erased before they give them to me of course @@ShannonMorse
Use thermite 😂 like ramzee
Doesn't dd command still work?
Just by chance, haven’t you heard about ventoy?
Nice video Shannon
My bios was hacked. I wiped it over and over but it remained hacked. Please, a detailed way to do the bios reset.
thank you soo much for the video
I first delete all data and folders containing data. I boot into WinPe and clean the disk and do a full format. Re-install Windows from Rufus and bitlocker the drive choosing to bitlocker the entire drive. It makes you save the key so I print to PDF and save to a file on the drive that is in a subfolder. I delete the file and subfolder. I choose a 20 character pin at random to protect the drive that must be entered on boot. The 20 character PIN is simply in notepad and not saved. I reboot and there is no key available and no way to boot the computer. The computer can now be shipped to the IT dept of the persons employer. I destroy and discard the drive or simply use it in a USB to NVME enclosure. When I buy a personal computer I remove the SSD and place in another SSD and then replace it with the original SSD for warranty repair or future sale. THis saves money as Laptop manufactures overcharge for large capacity. I also like a SAMSUNG 970 drive and the laptop manufacture was likely not kind enough to install SAMSUNG.
I was thinking to use the washing machine but I do not know after drying it will work again so better to get under the sun later on.
+1 for DBAN!!!
They will never get my secret spaghetti meatball recipe now.
😂😂
The easier option was mentioned in the video already - encrypt whole drive and forget it, but if you want to make "your life" more complicated, then instead of downloading those ancient software, download a Linux distro and flash it into a USB drive, boot from there and use "dd" command do "Distroy Disk" indeed.
( with this tool, once, I've already ended with one of my HDD's life in the past xD )
great video.
Oh man all the weird stuff the aliens are going to find in they discover Earth and unearth a drive
If i do destroy a hard drive i prefer not to detroy the whole thing, i save the screws and other things and just remove the platter and destroy that
Since I use full disk encryption, I've never felt the need to erase a disk drive. When I get a new SSD, the old one goes into a box as a backup. To anyone else, it's unreadable, random gibberish.
drill the disk, buy a second hand hand place it in the laptop and sell it
Ugh! I had like over 70 hard drives of all types to get rid of a few months ago. I just ripped off the boards and delivered them to Best Buy for recycling praying that no one would be desperate enough to find the boards and recover the data. I hope Best Buy does the right thing. I'm fretting the day I see some documentary or news report on how they sell it to some 3rd world cranks!
White Canyon Software.
If I were to sell a computer, I would take the drive(s) out of the computer, keep them in a box at home, and then sell the computer without drives.
Are you still associated with Hak5? Remembered watching you back in the day.
Have you watched the Hak5 channel lately? The answer is there 😜
LOL I tried to microwave an SD card only to find out the card still worked.
Psst, deep swamp
Comment for engagement
I've been in IT for 30 years and I still just hit every key...
🤣🤣🤣
I just replace the drive with a new one
I use crap cleaner with 35 wipes per file, wipe alt data streams AND wipe cluster tips. AND TRIMMING.
I used a hammer at by old job
put a drive in the microwave for a couple seconds, everything is 1000% gone, unrecoverable, works for any storage media, do not attempt unless you know what you are doing and are a safe distance from your house.
Like your neighbors Microwave 🙂 LOL
purple hair... danger
diy thermite
Encrypt it and throw away the key 🙂
I mentioned this in the video 😊
@@ShannonMorse yes, but honestly I think it's the only viable option, because as you mentioned these devices will store data outside of the regular 'writeable' segments, and who knows maybe your storage device firmware is compromised, they can just ignore a request to delete, etc.
Take it apart. Hammer away the hard drive, memory ram, mainboard and cpu
This is my favorite method
There is only one government approved way to completely erase a drive, melt it with thermite. Software doesn't work.
To delete personal files, I use eraser and set it to 7 times wipe.
BleachBit