How do I clear out my laptop before selling it?

S0litaire

bat999 wrote: »

People who suggest DBAN in this thread either can't read or just don't understand the question.
:cool:

Wrong
&
Wrong

The OP did say he could get another XP disk to reinstall the OS.(So nuking the drive won't be a diaster)
Also he wanted to make sure that no information could be recovered... (So nuking the drive will make sure it's clean)

Peace 'n' Beer :beer:
=^__^=

HO87

bat999 wrote: »

People who suggest DBAN in this thread either can't read or just don't understand the question.
:cool:

Agreed. However, I suspect that the OP may misunderstand what they can and can't do in terms of permanently "erasing" personal data whilst trying to maintain their current Windows install.

Firstly, regardless of which tool you use no data is ever actually erased in the true sense of the word but simply overwritten and therefore the more times it is overwritten the less chance there is of it being recovered. The problem is that because of the way Windows writes to the hard drive personal data can end up in all sorts of nooks and crannies and simply overwriting files will not necessarily dispose of the problem.

If the OP is really concerned about the risk of personal data being recovered then they would do well to use something like DBAN, freeware, or Iolo Disk Shredder, proprietory, (there are others but these tend to stand at the forefront) to overwrite the entire hard drive and then reinstall Windows.

Anything other than that is going to be something of a compromise if their concerns are significant.

If on the other hand they just want to make life difficult using something like File Shredder will probably suffice. As other posters have pointed out files that have already been deleted from the Recycle Bin will not be overwritten and so if the OP has started the process of removing personal data there is a risk of recoverable traces being left.

Personally, if I was going to use an in-situ cleaner (rather than overwriting the entire drive) beside shredding the free disc space I would recommend using a tool that also shreds the file slack but this type of utility tends to be included only in proprietory software which the OP may not want to spend money on.

As for reinstalling Windows I'd second the suggestion that they download an OEM version and install it using their original product key. If they are unable to find that then they could download one of numerous tools to recover it from their registry.

sunni

Thanks for all the replies, have to say I'm abit confused now as what to do - hopefully will get there, have everything I need backed up so that's a start lol

anguilla

Or if you don't want to install anything over the top just go start/run and type in:

CIPHER /W:c:\ which will secure erase (00,FF, Random) all free space on the drive. This is built into XP.

BTW there is no way you are going to forensically recover a modern hard drive (>30GB) that has had a single wipe, let alone 3!

bat999

anguilla wrote: »

Or if you don't want to install anything over the top just go start/run and type in:

CIPHER /W:c:\ which will secure erase (00,FF, Random) all free space on the drive. This is built into XP.

BTW there is no way you are going to forensically recover a modern hard drive (>30GB) that has had a single wipe, let alone 3!

Wow!
That one reply is golden.
Verification from Microsoft's Knowledge Base:-http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315672
:cool:

sunni

anguilla wrote: »

Or if you don't want to install anything over the top just go start/run and type in:

CIPHER /W:c:\ which will secure erase (00,FF, Random) all free space on the drive. This is built into XP.

BTW there is no way you are going to forensically recover a modern hard drive (>30GB) that has had a single wipe, let alone 3!

Ok thanks for this. As I ain't too much of a computer technie I just want to make sure I'm going this right. So I just go to start/run and type in CIPHER /W:c:\

Will this erase files or what does this erase? Is this sufficient to do on its own before selling?

enigma52

as I understand the cipher command it depends on what OS you have and you also have to have the drive running the ntfs file system and not Fat 16 or Fat 32. you should google "cipher.exe" and read up on it after all the decision is yours on which method out of the many suggested that you use (if any). Plus if you look at the command you have typed it is incorrect!

sunni

enigma52 wrote: »

as I understand the cipher command it depends on what OS you have and you also have to have the drive running the ntfs file system and not Fat 16 or Fat 32. you should google "cipher.exe" and read up on it after all the decision is yours on which method out of the many suggested that you use (if any). Plus if you look at the command you have typed it is incorrect!

Thanks enigma, oh decisions decisions!!