Do computers store any information outside the hard drive?

timayhelen

timayhelen

New Member
Might sound like a stupid question to you guys, but I don't know much about how these things work. If I'm getting a new hard drive, am I essentially starting over 100% fresh? Is there any reason at all to run erase if I'm installing a new hard drive and not directly transferring the files on my old one back over?

Thanks
 
if you're disposing of a hard drive you might want to consider running DBAN first, to wipe everything that is on the hard drive - not only the operating system but any other, more personal, files that may be there. Someone could pick up the hard drive if you just throw it away, and it could still contain personal stuff. Just first make sure there is nothing on the old hard drive that you still want then run DBAN which is both bundled with eraser or available as a stand alone program.

As for RAM, I don't know. I've seen some people say that some data could still reside there and for that reason forensics also examine RAM as well as the hard drive if a computer is being searched for whatever reason, but quite how accurate that is I'm not sure. However, you might want to read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_forensics

at the paragraph titled "Record open applications".

If you really are worried that old data could still be held in RAM, then buy some new RAM to have a completely "fresh" computer.
 
Computers store information on hard drives, USB drives, floppy disks, etc. RAM is volatile, and is cleared completely every time the computer is turned off.

A new hard drive may not always be as new as you think. I have purchased items off the shelf that were sold as new, but had been shrink-wrapped a second time after the item had been returned. I wipe every drive I get with DBAN before I use it, just in case there is something nasty (viruses or illegal stuff) on it.
 
Gralfus said:
Computers store information on hard drives, USB drives, floppy disks, etc. RAM is volatile, and is cleared completely every time the computer is turned off.

A new hard drive may not always be as new as you think. I have purchased items off the shelf that were sold as new, but had been shrink-wrapped a second time after the item had been returned. I wipe every drive I get with DBAN before I use it, just in case there is something nasty (viruses or illegal stuff) on it.
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there are people who believe that RAM is never totally wiped, but I've never had such sensitive data that I had to worry about what may be kept there.

I always think that if you wipe a hard drive with DBAN the computer should be as clean as is possible. Some people may wish to have a better certainty...
 
Some people "believe" that putting tinfoil on their heads protects them from alien mind control, so what? I work on the other side of file erasure (data recovery and computer forensics), there are tools to recover live RAM, since there is definitely something there to grab. But I have not found any tool or procedure for recovering data from cold RAM, largely because the data is volatile and disappears when powered off. To even *try* to find something, the RAM would have to be physically removed from the PC, since any OS you boot up with will use the RAM and overwrite any latent data. It just doesn't happen.
 
The idea of returning data from cold RAM is based on the image remaining after power off due to a capacitance charge in the chip.

This problem existed in early RAM chips and it was quite common to have the machine power on with some settings remaining the same. This was usually due to poor earthing and/or charge remaining in the capacitors. Generally after a few minutes the charge leaked away wiping the RAM. In really old chips 'stickiness' might occur where some switches were always set one way

In the modern context all the above is just of historical interest.

Garrett
 
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