The most effective way to wipe a computer clean of all data is to not want to.
The most effective way to wipe a computer clean of all data is to not want to.
As far as hard drives go, I would take it out and destroy it if selling the computer. Buy a new cheapo HD to put in to sell as working pc. Take what you need off it and then vent your pent-up driver road rage by using a hammer on it. You might be surprised what criminals can pull off a supposedly clean disc. Some people's information is easily worth a couple of grand to thieves. If the discs inside the HD are destroyed, then they are not getting any info period. Not that I have plans for any secret mission. Not much really is private nowadays.
If it's a decent sized hard drive, that's SUCH a waste. What do you mean by a "supposedly clean disc"? You're just spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt.
Yes, your info could be of significant value to thieves. But compare your advice with someone suggesting you buy a leg of pork and burn your house down to get a delicious roast dinner. Sure, you do get nice roast pork that way, but such a dramatic method isn't necessary and presumably would only be recommended by someone with a sense of humour or ignorant of how to set the oven to 200 degrees C. Right?
Read earlier in the thread. Darik's Boot And Nuke (www.dban.org) is a mature reliable program. If you can point to any cases where thieves got useful info after its use, I would really really like to hear.
Put dban review into Google. Tell us about any negative comments, especially about documented cases where data was disclosed after Dban's use.
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Use a program called DBAN which will wipe the full drive but yes there's a but it will also wipe Windows off the system. You can re-install windows using an installation disc if you have 1 and the key attached to the computer.
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When all else fails & my preferred method
Why not Download CCleaner (Free of Charge) Then Run the Cleaner (Top Item) Having Ticked Free Space. Job Done.
I Don't expect the Hard Disc is to big going back to 2001
BarnwoodComputers
Oh! the way you still have Windows left on a Cheap easy and most effective way of doing it
If the Hard Disc is not too Big Go to options and set the Wipe to 35 Times and nobody can read anything through 35 wipes.
Last edited by BarnwoodComputers; 5th November 2011 at 12:22 AM. Reason: Though of extra
I like the idea if you need more storage just buy an external hard drive. Store all your stuff on it. Change your computer and just plug in your HD with all the info. With the explosion of cloud computing, you do not need to store as many applications on your machine. Every thing is stored on the cloud. The client / server data base ultilizes web browser protocols to run the applications remotely.. For example most people use cloud computing already if you use Hotmail or Gmail. Most consumers use the storage for pictures and movies. Stuff they want to keep anyway.
If you have any data that's precious (e.g. photos, correspondence) you should have an external hard drive anyway. I've long ago lost count of the number of people I've had to offer tea and sympathy to when their hard drive (internal or external) has failed and they have no other copy of their data. Sometimes recovery is possible. Sometimes not. People seem to have boundless faith in their hard drives until they've experienced this -- I have no idea why. These are people who have, say, a 2 year old car but have the good sense to join the AA, so clearly they do realise that mechanical failure happens.
So if you're using a hard drive to store stuff you no longer have room for on your internal drive, you need two external drives, preferably three. And you need to copy your files regularly.
If you have less than 2GB of data that's precious, use something like Dropbox. If you sign up to it using my affiliate link http://db.tt/2eyHp7oE you'll get an extra 256MB of space!
If the worst does happen and you have a naff drive you're desperate to get data from, but you can't afford the kind of cash data recovery companies want (and deserve) then you may find an enthusiast willing to help, for free or for a modest cost. DON'T use them unless the first thing they're going to do is attempt to image your drive and then work on the image. It's imperative that changes are not made to the original drive.
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Dropbox for 2GB of offsite storage to simplify your life. Click here, to get an extra 500MB of space!
I am running 2 computers, (old & new) .
Having all my documents, images, etc etc on both I also have 2 external drives, also with full backups.. I feel relatively secure.
Many call this excessive, I call it the way I am.
I recently had 1 external drive quit, only a few years old and not on all the time, just gave out and lost all my info on that one.
Fortunately I had ample backup's.
When any of my computers go bad and not able to be repaired, they are junk and I treat them as such.
Hard drive is smashed and no one would be able to gather info from it.
For all of the time and effort I put into this stuff I sure don't want to lose any of it.
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