Disposing of old PC - Advice on clearing HD Needed

monkeyspanner

I'm about to dispose of an old PC and want to clear the Hard Drive so that no data is recoverable. I have used Paragon Disc Wiper 5.5 (1 pass, mask 00, 100% check) and then Reformatted drive. Is this sufficient to prevent recovery of data or do I need to do more?
Any advice/tales of past experience would be appreciated.
Thanks

Slapps

i think a hammer would do the trick

Slapps

Ken68

..........or a magnet.

sco0ter

Or a bucket of water,

zappahey

monkeyspanner wrote:

I have used Paragon Disc Wiper 5.5 (1 pass, mask 00, 100% check) and then Reformatted drive. Is this sufficient to prevent recovery of data or do I need to do more?

It'll be good enough unless someone really, really wants your data.

Slapps wrote:

i think a hammer would do the trick

Slapps

Only if you take it apart and destroy the platters

Ken68 wrote:

.........or a magnet.

Probably not, I've tried putting a hard disk in a degausser and it still worked.

sco0ter wrote:

Or a bucket of water,

Nope, unless you apply power when it's wet, otherwise just dry it out

Skint1

I use any linux distro afterwards that way theres a OS on it

mikemoate

I don't know the answer but it may be that the op, when he says he is going to dispose with his old pc, may mean he is going to sell it and wants to ensure the next user can't retrieve any info. If so I'm sure he and others would like replies with this in mind.

penrhyn

Take the HDD out and keep it.

John_Gray

To reply to the original question:
Yes, what you have done should be sufficient for the non-paranoid. GCHQ would probably be able to get some data off it, but unless your data is so important or dangerous that physical destruction of the hard disk was advisable, then you should be OK.

Myself, I use DBAN, but you pays your money...

John

Ditto

Or get one of these...

http://svp.co.uk/products-solo.php?pid=372

3.5" IDE HDD External Case (USB 2.0) = £14



This case is a housing for 3.5" Hard Drives making them external and connectable via the USB connection in your system.

Features:
- Fast and easy USB 2.0 solution for PC and Mac
- Backwards compatible with USB1.1 for connection to older machines
- USB2.0 allows transfer rates up to 480Mbits/s
- 'Plug and Play' compatible
- Slide tray function makes the unit easy to assemble, with less screws to lose
- Built-in 12V fan provides added coolness
- Enclosure stand included

Operating System Support:
- Windows 98SE, 2000, ME, XP
- Mac OS X 8.6 upwards

Package Contents:
- 3.5" HDD aluminium enclosure
- USB A-B type cable
- Installation/driver CD
- Manual
- 5V/2A + 12V/2A switching power adapter
- AC power cable
- Plastic stand

jakemuk

only way is to open up

and grind the platters up into tiny pieces and then melt in furance,

or keep the disc in ur safe