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Disk wiping and DiskPatch
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Summary:
this page was created to give you a brief overview of
a specific DiskPatch feature. Before continuing with a procedure
please make sure you consult the product manual.
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Keywords:
disk wiping, disk sanitation, low level format
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Created: 28-11-2006
Last edited: 07-10-2008
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| Disk
Wipe |
DiskPatch can be used to wipe partitions, entire disks or
specific areas on a hard disk by writing a byte pattern to each
sector on the disk or the selected area. Wiping a disk can be useful
for:
- Disk sanitation before a disk is made available to other
parties. For example, before selling your disk, wipe it first!
This way you can be sure others do not have access to your data
even if they use data recovery or low level disk access tools.
Note: There are many Windows 'erasure' type tools available that
promise secure deletion of deleted files and/or temporary files.
Do not rely on this type of tools to make *all* data
unrecoverable. The only way to ensure all data is safely deleted
is by wiping the entire disk.
- Preparing the disk to receive the contents of another disk.
This is especially useful when performing a forensic clone to a
larger disk. If you're cloning from a smaller to a larger disk
(this will often be the case), always wipe the destination disk
before creating the clone. This will make sure the destination
disk does not contain leftover data that might contaminate the
results for the forensic operation that follows.
- Virus removal from individual partitions or the entire disk.
Sometimes (boot sector) viruses are difficult to get rid of. Low
level virus code may also be in areas of your hard disk that are
not allocated to any partition at all! If the virus is contained
in one specific partition, wipe this partition only.
- Replacing a vendor specific Low Level Format program. On
modern hard disks a 'true' low level format is not possible.
Still, some vendor specific tools offer a 'low level format'
option to cure possible drive defects. In reality this low level
format is nothing more then writing a byte pattern to all
sectors on the disk, essentially the same operation as a disk
wipe. DiskPatch can be used on any brand disk, while vendor
specific tools are often slaved to one brand only. Also,
DiskPatch allows you to perform the disk wipe / low level format
either for the entire disk, or for a selected partition or
region.
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