Is it safe to sell my old PC ?

minnie123

I have bought a new laptop and so now have this PC that I don't know what to do with - Is it safe to sell it? Where is best to sell it? (ebay??) and if selling it is fine what to I need to do to it to wipe all my info etc?

The PC is a Dell 3100 if that helps (nearly 3 yrs old)

Thankyou

Money_Grabber13579

Basically, what you need to do to wipe your info is to tear out the hard drive and smash it with a hammer! But then you'll not be able to sell it unless you replace it. So basically, used PC's aren't really saleable unless you don't care about someone being able to access your data.

fwor

Yes, there are free tools that will allow you to securely delete your data from the hard disk. This is one of the best:

http://www.dban.org/faq/burning

It can be configured to overwrite the data on the disk many times, making it impossible for anyone without government/military grade resources to get it back (in fact probably even the military can't within a reasonable time).

But as the previous post says, secondhand PCs don't fetch much money and you will need to make clear it has no OS installed - unless you stick something like Ubuntu on it so it will boot up.

devizes18193

why not take the hard drive out & use it as an external drive and sell the rest , some one will have it ,

chickmug

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

Basically, what you need to do to wipe your info is to tear out the hard drive and smash it with a hammer!

Exactly what I thought I would do, with the two hard drives, when my PC gave up on me. But !!!!!! are they strong or what. Tried hitting, drilling and sawing and in the end managed to achieve the end result but after a lot of sweating. :eek:

minnie123

What kind of data can people actually get then?

I mean I use internet banking but don't download my statements or anything like that - could they find out my passwords? Or is it just stuff that has been saved to the hard drive?

If I use that system mentioned earlier to clean the hard drive can I put XP back on it - Do you get that with the computer when you originally get it or is it preloaded on? I can't remember?

weegie.geek

Yeah, they're well made. Just a big chunk of metal. I wouldn't advise anyone to google for how to make thermite and use it though.

gazfocus

minnie123 wrote: »

I have bought a new laptop and so now have this PC that I don't know what to do with - Is it safe to sell it? Where is best to sell it? (ebay??) and if selling it is fine what to I need to do to it to wipe all my info etc?

The PC is a Dell 3100 if that helps (nearly 3 yrs old)

Thankyou

I'd be interested in buying it minus the hard drive. Send me a PM.

fwor

minnie123 wrote: »

What kind of data can people actually get then?

It depends what you use it for. I once "rescued" a PC from a skip, and on the hard disk were several letters identifying the user by name and address, plus a large amount of pron. I formatted it and gave it away on Freecycle...

minnie123 wrote: »

I mean I use internet banking but don't download my statements or anything like that - could they find out my passwords? Or is it just stuff that has been saved to the hard drive?

Some browsers can be configured to store passwords locally. The password store should be encrypted, but it may be possible to crack that. Personal info like NI numbers, DOB etc could also be used maliciously.

minnie123 wrote: »

If I use that system mentioned earlier to clean the hard drive can I put XP back on it - Do you get that with the computer when you originally get it or is it preloaded on? I can't remember?

Yes, but you'll need an XP installation CD and a valid XP licence key (probably on a sticker on the side or back of the base unit if it's legit).

wakandem

just hit F11 just after the 'dell' start up or if you have the dell cd's use them. Do a ful format and restore to factory setings. You certainly do not need to smash the hard drive. If you are realy worried about your data, then a wiping prog will do the trick, or just shred 'my doc's with spybot. After such a wipe the disk would have to be taken out of the pc and analysed by another method, which is very time consuming and not done without a good chance of getting valuable data.

Money_Grabber13579

Doing a full format will not erase all the data permanently. It can still be resurrected by people who want to use the info.