Disposing of a computer

snowmen

Hello,
What do you need to do before you dispose of a computer.
I have copied all the stuff I need to an external hard drive but what do I need to do to delete everything on the hard drive.
Can I just take it to the tip afterwards?
Thanks for your help.

swvillafan

if you're taking it to the tip, rather than wipe the hard disk why not remove it from the pc, you could use it in an external caddy as another backup drive or something along those lines.

either that or see if theres a local charity that might need it or have a look on the yahoo freecycle site and give it away to someone.

free4440273

as above / remove drive as use as a backup/secondary drive as and when needed/

GillsMan7

Wiping or formatting a drive won't necessarily get rid of all your data. Proof in point: I once stupidly formatted a drive which contained all my data on it having just CUT and pasted it over from a backup (instead of COPIED and pasted). Using trade software I was able to retrieve everything, albeit three or four photos out of several thousand were corrupted and couldn't be accessed.

Some people will tell you to use a sledgehammer as the only surefire way to ensure no-one can access your old data.

A better idea, if you're going to give, sell or throw the hard drive away is to use software called DBAN - it's free. You burn the ISO to a disc and then run the disc as a boot disc when you start your computer up.

Basically, it writes a load of gobbledegook to your hard drive, then formats, then repeats, then formats, to ensure no data can be recovered. Depending on the size of your HD it'll take a while. At least an overnight job and possibly a few days. It's worth it though.

snowmen

So if I want to give the computer to a charity is DBAN the best way to delete everything off it?

free4440273

snowmen wrote: »

So if I want to give the computer to a charity is DBAN the best way to delete everything off it?

dban is one of the best , yes //

bengalknights

Or just give them the pc without the hd and they can then either install one or sell it as it is.

Barneysmom

The only way to completely destroy your private docs is to hit it with a hammer.

victor2

Barneysmom wrote: »

The only way to completely destroy your private docs is to hit it with a hammer.

Not the only way, as others have said, but very effective and quite rewarding in its own way.

leanneloves

another plus for DBAN too.

closed

If you dban it, the charity probably won't be interested (no o/s). Setting it to factory settings, and using ccleaner wipe free space has the same effect, but leaves a working os on it.