Comments on: Hard Drive Forensics For Online Search History?

By: JT_8

JT_8 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 03:11:28 +0000

The only way to ensure the data is destroyed would be to physically destroy the drive. Take a hammer to it, shatter the platters. Otherwise, a drive that’s intact can be recovered by someone who has enough time and tools to recover the data. So remember to smash your drive when your done researching how to make a pipe bomb.

By: Paul 21years

Paul 21years — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:47:01 +0000

Actually, you don’t have to be the FBI or CIA to discover deleted files. Even just a good programmer can recover every single file. Just like the previous answer, unless the hard drive is physically destroyed, everything can be discovered and password overridden. I’m giving you some URLs where you get get some more info.
I hope the info helps

By: bambamit

bambamit — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:02:05 +0000

It’s easy to wipe data off your hard disk so ‘joe average’ can’t find it… have a look for secure deleter programs that are desigend to wipe the ‘empty’ disk space clean.
In a lab the data may be readable… it would mean dismantling the hard disk, so deffo out of the computer and out of the home.
As for destroying it so no-one can read it? Yep, with a few screwdrivers and a pair of pliers you can strip the disk to components, then torch each platter on a gas stove or electric stove till you hit the curie point and the info is gone, gone, gone.

By: Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:35:52 +0000

The only true way to ensure data to never be recovered is by physically destroying the hard drive. There are programs such as Active@ Kill Disk that will write over the disk many times destroying all data making future recovery extremely difficult. Only the CIA or FBI would have the resources to recover this information.
If a user has used advanced tools to erase usage tracks, program logs, registry history and the index.dat files, restore is more difficult. You would have to use a disk editor to directly access hard disk sectors.