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Cleaning HD and Installing Linux

post #1 of 7
7/7/05 at 6:26pm
Thread Starter 
Here's the deal. I own two laptops. I recently bought a brand new Asus W3V and I own a Dell Inspiron 8100 (circa 2001). Both run WinXP Pro SP2. My old flame, the Dell, just sits there now though and so I am interested in running 'Linux' on it as a way to still pay attention to my old 'trusty' and to learn about Linux OS in the process. Cool, huh?

1) I am looking for a program to completely erase and reformat my Dell hard drive prior to installing Linux? I had heard of a program the NSA, FBI and CIA all uses to wipe clean their computer HD. Sound familiar? Any comments?

2) Where would you recommend I download Linux so that I can burn a CD to install it on my computer?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.
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post #2 of 7
7/7/05 at 6:30pm
All you really need to do is a few low level formats.

I have heard that the government standard is 3 but I have friends that swear by 7. The Linux install disks should have a good formatter that would allow you to do it for alot less then a program that basically does the same thing.

Even your bootable windows install disk will work. Just boot from it and do a few low level formats.
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post #3 of 7
7/7/05 at 6:56pm
If you have a floppy use boot and nuke: http://dban.sourceforge.net/
That'll get your HDD wiped clean.
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post #4 of 7
7/7/05 at 6:59pm
Every Linux distro I have ever installed came with disk partitioning and formatting programs.

Have you picked a distro yet? www.distrowatch.com is a great place that lists just about every distro possible. Myself and others in this forums could also recommend some distros based on your needs.
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post #5 of 7
7/8/05 at 3:16am
www.linuxquestions.org is a great site for linux info. You can also download the distros from there.


You should be able to format and partition from the install of whatever linux distro you're going to use.

The government uses their own algorithms for formatting your drives, just low-level formatting x times won't do it. You can download a great disk of tools for HD, Memory and other utlities from www.ultimatebootdisk.com

good luck
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post #6 of 7
7/8/05 at 10:22am
You can check out KILLDISK

Quote:
Active@ KillDisk conforms to US Department of Defense clearing and sanitizing standard DoD 5220.22-M. The most secure Gutmann's data destruction method is also implemented..
However, as 46and2 said, you should have the option to format and/or partition your drive with any distro you get.

iBiblio (look at 'linux distributions' on the right side of the page) is another place to download distros from.. but I like distrowatch better cuz it's purtier!
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post #7 of 7
7/8/05 at 11:49am
Thread Starter 
Thanks everyone.

I haven't even installed Linux yet and I'm already learning so much. Mostly, I'm learning how little I know about my computers in general. = )

I picked up the July 1 issue of ComputorEdge magazine today and the "DigitalDave" column had a great answer to a similar question by a reader. There was also a great article on the subject. The entire issue in fact was on stopping hackers, scammers, and the like. Good stuff in there.

Anyways, Dave recommended something called "Wipe Drive." Unfortunately, it looks like it costs $39.95. I'll try one of your recommendations instead . Thanks again everyone.
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