selling computer

hartcjhart

Hi techie guys, I am thinking of selling my computer and upgrading,
however my concern is that I do a lot of financial transactions and want to know how to safely remove all traces of bank/CC details that are stored/used

any ideas

Alias_Omega

100% peace of mind - Reinstall Windows.

Will prob make it faster too..

fwor

Alias_Omega wrote: »

100% peace of mind - Reinstall Windows.

Unfortunately that's not true. Even a format and re-install won't make old data on the hard disk unrecoverable - especially if it has plenty of space and was heavily fragmented.

The certain way to do it is to run DBAN on the hard disk, then re-install Windows. Very nearly as good is to use the disk manufacturers utilities to write zeros to the whole disk and then re-install.

Lincoln_Imp

I would take the HD out
You can either bung a new/old HD in or knock a few quid off for the buyer

electrobix99

Depending on the PC you are selling you might be better off flogging it in parts.

penrhyn

Remove Hard Drive and hit it very hard with a heavy hammer, 100% secure every time.

googler

penrhyn wrote: »

Remove Hard Drive and hit it very hard with a heavy hammer, 100% secure every time.

Why all this enthusiasm for wrecking a perfectly good drive?

OP; take the HDD out of the computer, and keep it. Sell the computer for slightly less. Someone WILL buy it without a HDD.

Keep the HDD, install it as a secondary drive in your new PC, or put it in a USB caddy and use it as a backup/secondary.

The HDD is the ONLY place on the PC that any of your data could be stored.

hartcjhart

googler wrote: »

Why all this enthusiasm for wrecking a perfectly good drive?

OP; take the HDD out of the computer, and keep it. Sell the computer for slightly less. Someone WILL buy it without a HDD.

Keep the HDD, install it as a secondary drive in your new PC, or put it in a USB caddy and use it as a backup/secondary.

The HDD is the ONLY place on the PC that any of your data could be stored.

cheers,why did'nt I think of that

DOH

Guardsman

I think some answers are a bit OTT simply formatting your HD and reinstalling Windows will be OK.
To get data off a formatted HD requires specialist equipment and there are far easier ways for them to get hold of information from unprotected computers than go to the expense of buying yours on the off chance that they will con you out of money.

david39

Alternatively, download CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner) onto a memory stick.

Re-install Windows so that the hard disk is formatted.

From the memory stick, install CCleaner.

Click on the Tools option and then Drive Wiper.

Select your hard disc and Free Space Only.

Then select how many times you want the free space overwritten and that will then clear all traces of anything from your previous use of the machine.

3 passes will be quite sufficient, I would say - the more passes, the longer the process takes, of course.

DevCoder

DBAN Boot 'N' Nuke is generally considered one of the best to wipe drives. Several financial institutions I know have used this as opposed to destroying the drive (then again we destroy all drives with a rather nice magnetic de-gausser and then a industrial guillotine machine which slices the drive in half)

http://www.dban.org

If you are paranoid then either reuse the drive or drill holes into it (a bit more stress relieving)