OT: Hard Drive Question

Religions > Atheism > OT: Hard Drive Question

LINK TO THIS PAGE

rating : 0 | 0

Page 1 of 2

Topic:	Religions > Atheism
User:	"Daniel Kolle"
Date:	04 Oct 2004 04:41:46 PM
Object:	OT: Hard Drive Question

I have been curious about what I have stored on my old computer's
eight gig hard drive. There exists a problem, as usual. My cousin, the
man of destruction he is, wanted to erase the hard drive. At the time,
I had no problem with it. I was going to get another computer.
What he did though, makes me wonder if he really did erase it.
All he did was take a small magnet and move it up and down the hard
drive a few times. Could that erase everything? If it did not, is it
safe to exchange hard drives and see what I have in the old one? I do
not want another computer to die on me.
--
-Daniel "Mr. Brevity" Kolle; 16 A.A. #2035
Koji Kondo, Yo-Yo Ma, Gustav Mahler, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Geirr Tveitt are my Gods.
Head of EAC Denial Department and Madly Insane Scientist.
.

User: "ArWeGod"
Title: Re: Hard Drive Question	05 Oct 2004 01:54:13 AM

"Daniel Kolle" <DKolle@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:pgg3m05muh3qapojc2qvq1r6qu75ob5q9s@4ax.com...

You are wise to ask this question in an Atheist newsgroup. We can
definitely solve your problem without prayer.
But if you want to have a prayer of it working, why not ask in a
technical newsgroup instead?
--
ArWeTechie
.

User: "Enkidu"
Title: Re: Hard Drive Question	05 Oct 2004 08:54:51 AM

"ArWeGod" <ArWeGod?@sbcglobal.net> wrote in news:pyr8d.4967$JG2.3710
@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com:

"Daniel Kolle" <DKolle@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:pgg3m05muh3qapojc2qvq1r6qu75ob5q9s@4ax.com...

[snip]

But if you want to have a prayer of it working, why not ask in a
technical newsgroup instead?

I find the best answers to my techical questions come from alt.atheism.
It's full of a wide variety of educated, intelligent people, and it's a
community I feel at home in.
Why not ask here?
--
Enkidu aa 2165
That wall, embodied in the First Amendment, is perhaps
America's most important contribution to political progress
on this planet.
Lowell Weicker
Republican Senator 1971-1989
.

User: "Jez"
Title: Re: Hard Drive Question	05 Oct 2004 02:31:29 PM

Enkidu wrote:

"ArWeGod" <ArWeGod?@sbcglobal.net> wrote in news:pyr8d.4967$JG2.3710
@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com:

"Daniel Kolle" <DKolle@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:pgg3m05muh3qapojc2qvq1r6qu75ob5q9s@4ax.com...

[snip]

But if you want to have a prayer of it working, why not ask in a
technical newsgroup instead?

I find the best answers to my techical questions come from alt.atheism.
It's full of a wide variety of educated, intelligent people, and it's a
community I feel at home in.

Why not ask here?

Ah well, we first have to know if the HD 'believes'.
:)
--
Jez
'Realism is seductive because once you have accepted the reasonable
notion that you should base your actions on reality, you are too often
led to accept, without much questioning, someone else's version of what
that reality is. It is a crucial act of independent thinking to be
skeptical of someone else's description of reality.'-
Howard Zinn
Skype callto://hellward
.

User: "Daniel Kolle"
Title: Re: Hard Drive Question	05 Oct 2004 02:47:04 PM

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 06:54:13 GMT, "ArWeGod" <ArWeGod?@sbcglobal.net>
thought hard and said:

"Daniel Kolle" <DKolle@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:pgg3m05muh3qapojc2qvq1r6qu75ob5q9s@4ax.com...

You are wise to ask this question in an Atheist newsgroup. We can
definitely solve your problem without prayer.

But if you want to have a prayer of it working, why not ask in a
technical newsgroup instead?

Could be that I am not a reg in any tech froup. I would have asked the
boys in AGVNC, though, if there were any left.
--
-Daniel "Mr. Brevity" Kolle; 16 A.A. #2035
Koji Kondo, Yo-Yo Ma, Gustav Mahler, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Geirr Tveitt are my Gods.
Head of EAC Denial Department and Madly Insane Scientist.
.

User: ""
Title: Re: Hard Drive Question	05 Oct 2004 05:43:44 PM

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 06:54:13 GMT, "ArWeGod" <ArWeGod?@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

"Daniel Kolle" <DKolle@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:pgg3m05muh3qapojc2qvq1r6qu75ob5q9s@4ax.com...

You are wise to ask this question in an Atheist newsgroup. We can
definitely solve your problem without prayer.

But if you want to have a prayer of it working, why not ask in a
technical newsgroup instead?

RRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG.
**
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Vote for Bush. Why vote for the lesser of two evils?
'Jesus' is a sock-puppet Christians utilize to add 'authority' to
whatever action they intend on taking. -Stoney
.

User: "Doc Smartass"
Title: Re: OT: Hard Drive Question	04 Oct 2004 05:01:12 PM

Daniel Kolle <DKolle@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:pgg3m05muh3qapojc2qvq1r6qu75ob5q9s@4ax.com:

Some data might have gotten corrupted, but it's worth plugging it in for
curiosity's sake. Even after a drive is reformatted, the data is still
there--formatting essentially "resets" the directory structure without
actually removing any data at all. With that in mind, you might be able to
recover a good bit of stuff from the drive if you run it as a second hard
drive, install a file recovery program on your main one, and set it to
snooping.
--
Dr. Smartass -- BAAWA Knight of Heckling -- a.a. #1939
The Fundamentalist
== Knows no greater joy than the sound of his own voice.
== Knows no greater terror than the god he creates in his own image.
== Knows no greater evil than an unfettered mind.
== Knows no greater blasphemy than being told "NO."
.

User: "Vic Sagerquist"
Title: Re: OT: Hard Drive Question	04 Oct 2004 09:46:15 PM

On 04 Oct 2004, Doc Smartass dropped trou, farted, whirled, then shouted:

Even after a drive is reformatted, the data is still
there--formatting essentially "resets" the directory structure without
actually removing any data at all.

So, when I formatted my hard drive last year, why did my free space double?
--
Vic Sagerquist
aa#2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department
______________
You dumbazz atheist moron.
How many times a day does your head come out of your arse for some well
needed air? You really are scaling the woozy heights of Mount Idiot, aren't
you? Maybe your mother should keep her infant spawn away from newsgroups
that are plainly labeled "Over 18", you dunce-capped, toe-dancing Fraulein
.

User: "Enkidu"
Title: Re: OT: Hard Drive Question	04 Oct 2004 09:56:56 PM

Vic Sagerquist <address@withheld.com> wrote in
news:Xns9578C9556B6DBvicman@204.127.204.17:

On 04 Oct 2004, Doc Smartass dropped trou, farted, whirled, then
shouted:

Even after a drive is reformatted, the data is still
there--formatting essentially "resets" the directory structure
without actually removing any data at all.

So, when I formatted my hard drive last year, why did my free space
double?

You rewrote the directory information that keeps track of where files are
stored. The drive "looks" empty to the OS, but the stored data remains
until it is overwriten by new data.
--
Enkidu aa 2165
Now playing: [006] Yello - The Race
www.radioparadise.com
That wall, embodied in the First Amendment, is perhaps
America's most important contribution to political progress
on this planet.
Lowell Weicker
Republican Senator 1971-1989
.

User: "Vic Sagerquist"
Title: Re: OT: Hard Drive Question	04 Oct 2004 10:31:02 PM

On 04 Oct 2004, Enkidu dropped trou, farted, whirled, then shouted:

Vic Sagerquist <address@withheld.com> wrote in
news:Xns9578C9556B6DBvicman@204.127.204.17:

On 04 Oct 2004, Doc Smartass dropped trou, farted, whirled, then
shouted:

Even after a drive is reformatted, the data is still
there--formatting essentially "resets" the directory structure
without actually removing any data at all.

So, when I formatted my hard drive last year, why did my free space
double?

You rewrote the directory information that keeps track of where files
are stored. The drive "looks" empty to the OS, but the stored data
remains until it is overwriten by new data.

Interesting. How would I access the old data?
--
Vic Sagerquist
aa#2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department
______________
You dumbazz atheist moron.
How many times a day does your head come out of your arse for some well
needed air? You really are scaling the woozy heights of Mount Idiot,
aren't
you? Maybe your mother should keep her infant spawn away from
newsgroups
that are plainly labeled "Over 18", you dunce-capped, toe-dancing
Fraulein
.

User: "Doc Smartass"
Title: Re: OT: Hard Drive Question	04 Oct 2004 11:02:48 PM

Vic Sagerquist <address@withheld.com> wrote in
news:Xns9578D0ED7F488vicman@204.127.204.17:

On 04 Oct 2004, Enkidu dropped trou, farted, whirled, then shouted:

Vic Sagerquist <address@withheld.com> wrote in
news:Xns9578C9556B6DBvicman@204.127.204.17:

On 04 Oct 2004, Doc Smartass dropped trou, farted, whirled, then
shouted:

Even after a drive is reformatted, the data is still
there--formatting essentially "resets" the directory structure
without actually removing any data at all.

So, when I formatted my hard drive last year, why did my free space
double?

You rewrote the directory information that keeps track of where files
are stored. The drive "looks" empty to the OS, but the stored data
remains until it is overwriten by new data.

Interesting. How would I access the old data?

It's still there, as it were--but the OS doesn't "see" it because the
drive's been marked as "empty." However, there are quite a few programs on
the market that will let you scan-and-retrieve anywhere from a sector to
the entire drive's contents. It basically dumps whatever it finds into a
folder you specify. Then it's up to you to make sense of it. When my 10-gig
drive died a couple of years ago, I was reduced to trying to recover some
important files (especially the book I'm writing) from an old 4-gig drive
that had been dropped. I got the computer to recognize it...and the reading
program pulled maybe 2 gigs of stuff, including year-old mail, websites I'd
visited, most of my book...saved my *****, basically. This was after the
damaged drive had been FDISKed and formatted. Nice :)
It all boils down to this: When you delete a file, all you're really doing
is telling the OS "I don't want this anymore. If you need the disk space
for something else, use it." The OS makes a little note in the directory.
Your "deleted" file might get overwritten immediately thereafter, or not at
all, depending on how the OS decides to use the space. When you "undelete"
a file, the OS just un-marks it.
--
Dr. Smartass -- BAAWA Knight of Heckling -- a.a. #1939
The Fundamentalist
== Knows no greater joy than the sound of his own voice.
== Knows no greater terror than the god he creates in his own image.
== Knows no greater evil than an unfettered mind.
== Knows no greater blasphemy than being told "NO."
.

User: "TCS"
Title: Re: OT: Hard Drive Question	04 Oct 2004 11:31:41 PM

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 04:02:48 GMT, Doc Smartass <gekiskivviesdo@astroboyskivviesmail.com> wrote:

Vic Sagerquist <address@withheld.com> wrote in
news:Xns9578D0ED7F488vicman@204.127.204.17:

On 04 Oct 2004, Enkidu dropped trou, farted, whirled, then shouted:

Vic Sagerquist <address@withheld.com> wrote in
news:Xns9578C9556B6DBvicman@204.127.204.17:

On 04 Oct 2004, Doc Smartass dropped trou, farted, whirled, then
shouted:

Even after a drive is reformatted, the data is still
there--formatting essentially "resets" the directory structure
without actually removing any data at all.

So, when I formatted my hard drive last year, why did my free space
double?

You rewrote the directory information that keeps track of where files
are stored. The drive "looks" empty to the OS, but the stored data
remains until it is overwriten by new data.

Interesting. How would I access the old data?

a full format does a pretty good job of permenantly deleting data. (not a quick
one where just the file system structure gets written at the start of the
volume )
$100,000 worth of work in a cleanroom can see underneath a format, but
few people or institutions are really going to think it worth that money.
.

User: "Enkidu"
Title: Re: OT: Hard Drive Question	04 Oct 2004 10:59:34 PM

Vic Sagerquist <address@withheld.com> wrote in
news:Xns9578D0ED7F488vicman@204.127.204.17:

On 04 Oct 2004, Enkidu dropped trou, farted, whirled, then shouted:

Vic Sagerquist <address@withheld.com> wrote in
news:Xns9578C9556B6DBvicman@204.127.204.17:

On 04 Oct 2004, Doc Smartass dropped trou, farted, whirled, then
shouted:

Even after a drive is reformatted, the data is still
there--formatting essentially "resets" the directory structure
without actually removing any data at all.

So, when I formatted my hard drive last year, why did my free space
double?

You rewrote the directory information that keeps track of where files
are stored. The drive "looks" empty to the OS, but the stored data
remains until it is overwriten by new data.

Interesting. How would I access the old data?

There is software availible that lets you look directly at the data on a
hard disk, ignoring the usual higher level functions of the OS that
usually keep you looking at what you want to see. Deleting a file is
like erasing a page number off a page in a book. The page is there, it's
just harder to find. (The pages in this book are in no particular order
to start with, so the page numbers are a bit more important.) Formatting
a hard drive is like erasing the table of contents and the page numbers.
Depending on the OS and how you deleted the data, it's easier or harder
to recover, but the data is still there. I'm not an expert, but people
have been convicted based on the contents of formatted hard drives.
Only when a bit is overwritten with a new bit is the original bit lost.
It might be possible to recover some data even then, but that's NSA
stuff, and they don't tell people like us about stuff like that.
--
Enkidu aa 2165
That wall, embodied in the First Amendment, is perhaps
America's most important contribution to political progress
on this planet.
Lowell Weicker
Republican Senator 1971-1989
.

User: "Vic Sagerquist"
Title: Re: OT: Hard Drive Question	04 Oct 2004 11:31:12 PM

On 04 Oct 2004, Enkidu dropped trou, farted, whirled, then shouted:

Vic Sagerquist <address@withheld.com> wrote in
news:Xns9578D0ED7F488vicman@204.127.204.17:

On 04 Oct 2004, Enkidu dropped trou, farted, whirled, then shouted:

Vic Sagerquist <address@withheld.com> wrote in
news:Xns9578C9556B6DBvicman@204.127.204.17:

On 04 Oct 2004, Doc Smartass dropped trou, farted, whirled, then
shouted:

Even after a drive is reformatted, the data is still
there--formatting essentially "resets" the directory structure
without actually removing any data at all.

So, when I formatted my hard drive last year, why did my free space
double?

You rewrote the directory information that keeps track of where
files are stored. The drive "looks" empty to the OS, but the stored
data remains until it is overwriten by new data.

Interesting. How would I access the old data?

There is software availible that lets you look directly at the data on
a hard disk, ignoring the usual higher level functions of the OS that
usually keep you looking at what you want to see. Deleting a file is
like erasing a page number off a page in a book. The page is there,
it's just harder to find. (The pages in this book are in no
particular order to start with, so the page numbers are a bit more
important.) Formatting a hard drive is like erasing the table of
contents and the page numbers.

Depending on the OS and how you deleted the data, it's easier or
harder to recover, but the data is still there. I'm not an expert,
but people have been convicted based on the contents of formatted hard
drives.

Only when a bit is overwritten with a new bit is the original bit
lost. It might be possible to recover some data even then, but that's
NSA stuff, and they don't tell people like us about stuff like that.

So reclaiming disk space is impossible? If I accidently download child
porn and quickly get rid of it, the only way to do it is to replace the
HD and chuck the old one?
--
Vic Sagerquist
aa#2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department
______________
You dumbazz atheist moron.
How many times a day does your head come out of your arse for some well
needed air? You really are scaling the woozy heights of Mount Idiot,
aren't
you? Maybe your mother should keep her infant spawn away from
newsgroups
that are plainly labeled "Over 18", you dunce-capped, toe-dancing
Fraulein
.

User: ""
Title: Re: OT: Hard Drive Question	05 Oct 2004 05:41:51 PM

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 04:31:12 GMT, Vic Sagerquist
<address@withheld.com> wrote: