Erase Data from Hard Drive

Table of Contents

General Information

Formatting the Hard Drive

Creating a Boot Diskette

[ Return to Table of Contents ]


General Information

The method used to erase data securely must be measured against the sensitivity of the data and the likelihood of an attempt to recover the data. There are a couple of levels of erasure that can be done. One level of removing data is to delete the files. This can be done by formatting the hard drive. Deleting the files does not completely remove the data from the drive and the data may be retrievable using certain software programs. This is the most widely used technique for data erasure. Please see Section 2 for information regarding how to format your hard drive.

The next level of removing data is an overwrite, commonly called a Level 2 wipe. For this level of erasure you will need to purchase a software program to perform the erasure. The application overwrites the part of the disk where the file previously existed. This level of data removal may provide a higher level of comfort for home and small office users where customer or financial data are concerns. A Level 2 wipe requires sophisticated tools to recover the data, and recovery is not certain.

In addition, some users may need to meet requirements such as Department of Defense standard 5220.22-M. Commercial software is available that meets the requirements of this standard.

[ Return to Table of Contents ]


Formatting the Hard Drive

To format your hard drive you will need a bootable diskette with the format command. You can download a file from Dell's Web site that will create a bootable diskette for you if you do not have one. Please see Section 3 for information regarding downloading this file and creating the boot diskette.

NOTICE: Performing the following steps will lead to the loss of all data on the hard drive. Please ensure that all necessary backups have been created prior to proceeding.

  1. Insert the boot diskette into the floppy drive.
  2. Restart the computer.
  3. If you are using the boot diskette created from the file from Dell's Web site, press the [5] key on the keyboard followed by [Enter] when the Startup Menu appears.
  4. From the A:\> prompt, type the following command:
    format c: /q
  5. Press the [Y] key and then press the [Enter] key to continue after the warning message is displayed.

When the format is complete, a message stating "Volume label (11 characters, ENTER for none)?" will be displayed.

  1. Press the [Enter] key when the message above is displayed.

Your hard drive has now been formatted.

[ Return to Table of Contents ]


Creating a Boot Diskette

You may click the following link to download the boot disk creation program:

CDENABv2.exe
  1. Click [Save] and then click [OK].
  2. When the "Save As" window is displayed, choose a location (such as "Desktop") for the file and click [Save].
  3. When the file download is complete, go to the location where you saved the CDENABv2.EXE file and double-click on the file to begin creating a boot disk.
  4. Click [Setup] in the gray "Bootable DOS Diskette for CD-ROM Support" window that is opened.
  5. Press the [Enter] key on your keyboard when the black window appears, advising you that you will need a blank, formatted diskette.
  6. Place a blank, formatted diskette into drive A: and press the [Enter] key again.
  7. You will be advised that the disk in Drive A is about to be overwritten. To continue, press the [Y] key on your keyboard, followed by the [Enter] key.
  8. When the new boot disk is complete, you will be asked to press the [Enter] key for the last time. This will exit out of the window as well as the "Bootable DOS Diskette for CD-ROM Support" program.