OT: Can Reformatting A Hard Drive To ext3 Destroy All the Data On It?

[Robin Laing]

Robert L Cochran wrote:
> I have a hard drive that I need to destroy the data on. What is the most 
> dependable way to do this? Can reformatting the drive as ext3 or ext4 or 
> some other filesystem effectively destroy the existing data?
> 
> Is there free software that can write zeroes or some form of nonsense to 
> every storage location?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Bob Cochran
> 

As many others have said, the answer is no.

Use the various tools to erase the drive as suggested.

I have actually formatted a drive as VFAT and EXT3 and still recovered 
data off of that drive.  It was not a test but a major mistake on my 
part.  Even recovered data from a drive that was part of an LVM and 
reformatted.

If the drive is small, it may be better to just destroy the drive.  One 
technique that I read about was to drill holes into the drive and fill 
it with Cola.  The acid will destroy the surface of the drive.

I physically take the drives apart and use the platter for various 
things.  They are so shiny at first.  :)

-- 
Robin Laing