Question about Truecrypt and System Wipe

[perBiteSu]

Hello,

I currently have a Windows 7 laptop, and encrypted the whole system with Truecrypt.

I have plans of doing a fresh install of Windows 8 but do not wish to decrypt the whole system before doing so (too time-consuming from what I remember reading somewhere).

So would doing a simple system wipe with DBAN for example, and then installing Windows 8 on the empty HD work?

Thanks

 

[sc302 Veteran]

You could just wipe the drive with the win 8 os tools, and install the os after.  The issue becomes the data on the drive, you will loose it.

[primexx]

Why would you decrypt it? why even wipe with DBAN? just copy your data to an external storage directly when you backup. the data on your HDD is already un-readable, an overwrite is just a waste of time, especially since you'll still be using the computer and presumably just going to full disk encrypt it again anyways. Just delete all the existing partitions during Win8 install and let it do what it wil.

[perBiteSu]

From the Truecrypt FAQ: 

 

 

Note: If the system partition/drive is encrypted and you want to reinstall or upgrade Windows, you need to decrypt it first (select System > Permanently Decrypt System Partition/Drive). However, a running operating system can be updated (security patches, service packs, etc.) without any problems even when the system partition/drive is encrypted.

 

I just want the quickest and safest way to get rid of everything and just install Windows 8. All of my personal data is already backed up.

What are the win8 os tools?

[sc302 Veteran]

boot to the os disk.  the os disk will see unrecognized partitions, format those partitions ntfs.  or use hirens or the like to format ntfs. no need to dban or anything.  The fastest would be to boot to the os and format the drive ntfs.

[perBiteSu]

OK I'll try that.

 

Thanks