DBAN disk wipe on Bitlocker?


  1. Posts : 812
    Win10
       #1

    DBAN disk wipe on Bitlocker?


    My mother has an old laptop which is very slow running Win10 with Bitlocker encryption. I set it up for her in the past. She wants to get rid of it.

    If the drive is encrypted, do I still need to wipe the data using DBAN?

    The hard drive is an IDE drive, not SSD.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 2,123
    Windows 11 Pro (latest update ... forever anal)
       #2

    win10freak said:
    The hard drive is an IDE drive, not SSD.
    Just replace the HDD with an SSD and do a clean install. With the change in speed, she won't know herself
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 812
    Win10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    It’s a 15 year old laptop. Max supported RAM is 2gb.

    I gave my old Dell laptop to her anyways but we need to just get the HP laptop out of the way.

    Is there a need for disk wiping tools if a drive is already encrypted?

    I’m also asking this question in general and not only in this case as above mentioned.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 1,656
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #4

    It's always safer to wipe. DBAN is overkill IMO. Just use CLEANALL from the DISKPART command. Even a simple format will do in tihs case.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 812
    Win10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Maybe Bitlocker will ask for the Recovery key before wiping the drive with DBAN or CLEANALL.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1,656
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #6

    win10freak said:
    Maybe Bitlocker will ask for the Recovery key before wiping the drive with DBAN or CLEANALL.
    Definitely not with DBAN, as it operates outside the OS environment. If CLEANALL is run from a bootable Windows ISO, then possibly....I don't know enough about Bitlocker to say for sure.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 161
    Windows 10
       #7

    It depends on the situation. Best practices would suggest a secure removal of all the contents on the hard drive. Just a few passes would be sufficient in most scenarios. You can't guarantee secure removal of all the contents of a hard drive without booting outside of the OS ie with USB stick or CD/DVD because many files are still in use but also because the OS can interfere with removal and tamper with the secure erasure process. This is why you have to boot from USB or CD/DVD to bypass the OS and then securely remove contents from the hard drive. If in doubt you should always securely wipe the contents of any storage medium regardless of the situation.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #8

    win10freak said:
    If the drive is encrypted, do I still need to wipe the data using DBAN?
    No need. Not unless you've set it to unlock with a password "1234" or "Password" - no-one will guess the bitlocker recovery key in the remaining lifetime of the universe.

    A DBAN wiped and a bitlocker encrypted drive will both appear to contain random data.
      My Computer


 

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