After performing a secure erase (or after using DBAN to erase), a log file gets created.

Also, virtually all of the methods of erasure used can be downloaded for free.Ģ). For example, the type of CPU has nothing to do with wiping the HDD but it's in the audit report. That's absolutely ridiculous to me and most of the info created in the report can either be entered manually or is unnecessary. Is it worth it to pay for these 'Total Erasure' programs, some of which charge 10$ and up for one hard drive erasure with an audit report. I have several questions and I hope someone can answer:ġ). There are software programs out there that will automatically create detailed audit log files (such as Blancco, white canyon, etc) but they are quite costly. I've done a lot of research and while many disk wiping utilities are free, they do not issue a statement of conformity to HIPAA compliance (prob for legal reasons). However, it DOES NOT state or reccomend a specific tool to use to wipe hard drives. I have found two FREE tools that are capable of executing the command (HDD Erase & Parted Magic) which are both available for free on the ultimate boot cd (Hiren's too I think?).Īccording to NIST SP 800-88, which establishes guidelines for media sanitization, Secure Erase is an approved method of sanitizing a hard drive. I am familiar with just about every free method of wiping a hard drive available and the best way I've found to wipe hard drives is to issue the drive internal Secure Erase command which is built in to all modern ATA hard drives since 2001 (larger than 15 GB). I was hoping to get an answer from someone with experience in wiping hard drives in order to comply with HIPAA or other Standards that prevent data loss. I'm new to this forum so I'm not sure where to post this.

White canyon data wipe