i know that when you delete a file it doesn't really delete. But is it safe if you overwrite the hdd? for example on 20gb hdd, you have important 5gb files. if you delete that and rewrite 20gb of files you don't care about, does the 5gb of important files rewrite? so it's impossible to retrace?

its only traceable if the other information didn't get put in the same blocks as the deleted info

how can you make sure it's on the same block?

filling up your hard drive and then wiping it, or just formating with a windows disk if you use it. and do the long NTFS format

Most files can be retraced, alot of time, it cant. Mostly files under 1mb can. But if you change harddrive partition format, from NTFS to FAT to RAW then back to NTFS, I doubt it will be traceable...

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what do you mean raw?

RAW as in unallocated, not formatted to any file system.

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How do you do that?

Its border line of easy and hard. You will need to use a linux live cd call GParted. From there, it allows you to edit/format any harddrive to any possible format that a computer can read.

__________________
Xbox 360 - 2 Games - 2 Controllers - 120GB Elite - Dead
PS3 - 23 BD Games - 13 PSN Games - 9 Controllers - 320GB - Alive
Wii - 6 Games - 4 Wiimotes - Alive
PC - Overkill - 3DMark06 [13896]- God like :]

Gaming Generations | XnogarD Production - Soon!!!

@kam

i just deleted everything, ran ccleaner, and than put bunch of files to fill it up so my old files can be overwritten. I did it untill it was less than 1mb. Even a 33kb picture couldn't fill it up. Than i formated the hard drive with fresh copy of OS and put more junk files and than delted and ran ccleaner. Do you think it's safe to say all my old files is deleted.
i'm just trying to sell it on ebay.