Although we think that when we delete a file from the computer it disappears, in reality it is not. When we delete a file, what happens is that its space is marked as “free”, making it available to other data. But the data in the original file is still there, and with the right tools, you can get it back. The same happens when we perform a format, since what actually happens is that the partition is marked as empty, but the data is still there. For this reason, if we want to erase hard disks and partitions in a safe, complete and unrecoverable way, it is necessary to resort to special programs, such as DBAN.
DBAN is a free program, for personal use, designed to allow us to delete all the data from our computer. This program is in charge of deleting the information found on the hard drives that we have connected and, in addition, overwriting the data with all kinds of forensic information so that it cannot be recovered.
DBAN vs Blancco
DBAN is a completely free program for all users. But we must also bear in mind that it is quite limited in functions. This program, for example, does not recognize SSD drives and applies a special cleaning system (which can break them), nor does it certify the deletion of the data or allow the deletion of information on RAID drives.
For users who need these and other additional functions, its developers offer Blancco, the business edition of this tool.
Blancco Drive Eraser is the solution for the most paranoid users who need a certified data wipe. In front of DBAN, Blancco offers us the following:
- Erases mapped sectors and hidden areas of disks.
- Secure erase of SSD data.
- 22 different erase standards.
- Deletion report signed and certified by DoD 5222.2M, NIST 800-88 and other third-party certificates.
- Supports more connection protocols.
- SMART tests and hardware analysis.
- Authentication via user.
- Support for UEFI.
Of course, this edition also has technical support to help us solve any type of problem that we may encounter.
Download and use DBAN
We can download this program at no cost from its main website . We will download an ISO image of a few megabytes, which we must burn to a CD, DVD or a USB memory. With this means, we must start the computer in Live mode (from RAM) and we can start using this program.
We can see the main screen of the program. From it we will be able to choose, through commands, what we want to do with the program. With the keys F2, F3 and F4 we can access the help of the program. With the Enter key we can access the interactive mode. And if we write the command “autonuke”, we can apply a complete erase of all the data on our PC, ideal for paranoid people.
If we continue with the wizard, the next step will show us our hard drives, and we will have to choose which ones we want to clean. We can select the units we want with Space.
From this window we can change the deletion methods (different algorithms), choose the number of rewrites of the data and much more with the instructions that appear at the bottom.
When we have selected the hard drives that we want to erase safely, press Enter and the erase process will begin. This process can take many minutes, so we will have to wait calmly until it is finished.
When the process finishes, the hard disk will have been completely erased. All the data on it will have been destroyed and it will be impossible to recover them. The hard drive will be unformatted and partitioned, so it looks like it just came out of the factory.
We can already sell it, or start using it again for whatever we want.