Is it safe to sell my old PC ?

Millionaire

You don't need to smash it. You can use programs like Dban or other programs that can overwrite the data.

weegie.geek

Millionaire wrote: »

You don't need to smash it. You can use programs like Dban or other programs that can overwrite the data.

It's quite satisfying though, is destruction...

Marty_J

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

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

Not if it has been written over it can't.

weegie.geek

Marty_J wrote: »

Not if it has been written over it can't.

Theoretically it can.

Marty_J

Theoretically it's possible to recover something insofar as it's possible, after much effort, to say "this bit might have been a 1 at some point" and "this bit might have been a 0" (though there's no telling if the 1 was a 1 at the same time the 0 was a 0).

I'm not aware that anyone has actually demonstrated that they can retrieve any useable data from a HDD, once the data in question has been written over.

Regardless, even if such a thing were possible, it's beyond the bounds of anyone who doesn't have an scanning electron microscope. If someone wanted to steal your data, it would be much easier to break into your house and nick your computer.

weegie.geek

Of course, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Don't rely on the drive having been formatter or just written over. Leave it overnight dban-ing, and be as sure as it's possible to be.

posted_2

Delete your data, uninstall all your extra programs, run ccleaner with all options ticked, then restore to factory settings, probably f11 at boot, then install eraser, wipe free space 7 times or more if you are paranoid, then sell it with hard drive, no-one will get at your data, the drive doesn't need to be smashed. Install getdataback, and you will see that nothing is recoverable.

Alternatively, dban it, and reinstall windows from the CD (if you have it).

weegie.geek

posted wrote: »

the drive doesn't need to be smashed.

Spoilsport.

[Deleted User]

fwor wrote: »

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).

You're just wasting your time doing any more than one pass. Unless you know what you are looking for on recovery, it's estimated that skilled persons in computer forensics at most cannot recover more than a couple of kb per hour. There's nothing so fantastic as needing government or military resources to do so, the Police are quite skilled at it and anyone can learn it at University although you need the appropriate equipment to do so which is probably out of the budget for most people.

One pass, reinstall and that's it, no more is needed.

If anyone wished to get any of your details to defraud you then they'd have a more productive time sellotaping your shredded bank statements back together. Although can I assume with the level of fear in the thread that any documents like that are burned in the yard several times with various flammable materials?

minnie123

posted wrote: »

Delete your data, uninstall all your extra programs, run ccleaner with all options ticked, then restore to factory settings, probably f11 at boot, then install eraser, wipe free space 7 times or more if you are paranoid, then sell it with hard drive, no-one will get at your data, the drive doesn't need to be smashed. Install getdataback, and you will see that nothing is recoverable.

Alternatively, dban it, and reinstall windows from the CD (if you have it).

I am going to go with your advice cheers. Is Eraser the name of a program? Where can I download it from? I already have ccleaner so that is good.

I googled "eraser" and found a program from HeidiComputers - is that the one?