Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN)

cracker2

Member
I want to use this & was wondering who has used it.Did it work good?Do I have to have a win 98 OS,or can it be any OS after its done?Whats the easiest way to get all my driver hardware/software & burn to cd?Most freeware ive been through read some,but not all drivers or/& show drivers that don't exist.Whats a simpler way geting to all drivers & gather the needed software?
 

MyCattMaxx

Active Member
Boot and nuke totally wipes the drive.
It can run from floppy or cd.
When it is done there will be nothing left on the drive.
Then you install the OS of your choice.
Once installed then you can update or add drivers as needed.
 
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StrangleHold

Moderator
Staff member
If you just what to do a clean install of the OS its pretty much over kill. If your selling it and want to wipe the harddrive, good idea.
 

jevery

Active Member
Just so happens that I used DBAN for the first time yesterday to sanitize a drive before giving a retired computer away. It was recommended by a friend who works in IT for the federal government. Very easy to use. You'll need an ISO burner program to burn the ISO file to a CD. I like Active@ ISO Burner, a freeware program that's also easy to use. You can download it here.
 

Macnamara_Jack

New Member
i used it recently aswell and then checked the ahrd disk with a recovery tool and it thoroughly wiped it and nothing was traceable after :)
 

HumanMage

New Member
I'm getting ready to prep my system for an OS reinstall. I've never completely wiped a hard drive before, and I'm very tempted to use DBAN to do this. I've backed up my information that I want to keep onto a USB thumb drive (I don't have much) and I will just reinstall the programs after my OS install finishes. I've never heard of this program before, it sounds pretty easy to use. I went ahead and downloaded it and burned it onto a CD, the ISO file anyway. I don't know why I'm lollygagging, but I haven't went through with it yet. Why is it so overkill if someone wants to use DBAN if they are just going to reinstall an OS?
 

CrayonMuncher

Active Member
the reason it is overkill is because it is used to destroy all data so it can not be recovered, which is good if you are, for example, selling a computer with personal data on it and you want it securely erased so no matter what it cannot be recovered.
If you are just re-installing an os it is ok just to format the disk as you prob don't need your old data erased that extensively. i have never used dban but i'd imagine it is also simpler and quicker to format since it is on the os install disk.
 

HumanMage

New Member
Well, I figure since I don't have any data on this drive that I find personal (the stuff I did, I placed on thumb drives) I kind of want to give it a shot regardless if it's overkill. I have that itch to wipe totally clean, and start over. I think DBAN can do this for me. I'm hesitant because I've never done it before, but from what I've read it seems pretty easy.

I'm guessing I would lose the partitions I have on this drive currently, but that is no big deal I can always remake them once I install Windows 7 back onto my laptop. I think I'll give it a whirl...at least it's educational :)
 

HumanMage

New Member
Well I did it, and I must say, it was everything I thought it was going to be. Haha, I didn't know it would take three hours to perform though. Oh well, I installed my OS, and am working on reinstalling my programs that I need. I love the feel of a freshly installed operating system on a totally clean and wiped hard drive. :D
 

CrayonMuncher

Active Member
Yeah it doesn't surprise me it took that long, if my memory is correct, to securely erase data each block on the hard drive has to be overwritten at least 7 times.
 
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