Ah ... tis Rick the piano player and part time nitpicker ;-) Well for the sake of nitpickery, Magillakim did not say the data on the hard drive was of an extremely sensitive nature and that under no circumstances must it be retrieved, in which case my reply would have been to remove the hard drive and smash it with a hammer then throw the pieces into a furnace better known as RPDDP (Rupert's Permanent Data Deletion Process).
As you rightly say, data can be retrieved "if you know how" AND "if you have the right software". There are two points here, the person with the expertise or "know how" will not come cheap and neither will the data recovery software. Secondly, is the motivation for using such expertise justifiable i.e. is the data of such a sensitive nature that it is worth all the time and trouble retrieving it or is the person that buys the laptop so interested in Magillakim's friend that he/ she is willing to pay a substantial fee in order to have the data recovered? To be *realistic* I think not, because otherwise Magillakim's friend would not be considering selling the laptop, he/ she would destroy it. IMHO, even determined phishers would not waste time and money buying a laptop in the hope of recovering one persons personal data. If you can write a program to erase data you can write one to restore it, in short, re-formatting is the easiest and most *cost effective* way of deleting the data, if you are going to buy software to write 1 & 0's to the hd you may as well spend money on a new hd and I have also read somewhere that the data is still recoverable even if the drive has been overwritten with 1 & 0, in which case it has to be the ultimate solution ... use RPDDP on the old one. Rupert O^O--------------- Rupert's Reply To ---------------O^O With respect Rupert, formatting a hard drive will not wipe it clean, any data on it could still be retrieved if you know how. There is software available that will write ones and zeros to a drive that will erase any data. The only program I know of that will do this is Norton System Works but sure there are others. Google for Government Wipe and see what it brings up. Rick Avast ye land lubbers! One bear and no pirates found in this outbound vessel --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 0551-5, 23/12/2005 Tested on: 23/12/2005 15:20:16 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Most low income homes are not online. Make a difference this holiday season! http://us.click.yahoo.com/5UeCyC/BWHMAA/TtwFAA/67folB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> If you have any questions or problems with any aspect of this site, please feel free to contact me directly [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please do not post personal issues directly to the group. To unsubscribe from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thank you for using A-1 Computer Tech Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A-1-Computer_Tech/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
