Getting rid of computer,wipe hard drive,help

bwatt00

Just got myself a new computer,looking to get rid of my old one lets just say i have had it a good few years,one of them huge monitor ones,not even sure if worth anything these days,i think it has its problems,maybe just upgrade issue im not sure,but before i get rid or if i dump it,how do you get rid of the stuff on the hard drive is there software i can download etc etc that i can get online that deletes this from the system free,or would i be best taking out hard drive and destroying it?if so how best is this done,im sure i watch on a show once no matter how hard to try and destroy a hard drive the info can still be gotten etc,i was thinking of throwing this into the sea where nobody will ever find it or get it,but maybe there is software online i can get for free that does get rid of stuff,and before you guys ask i nothing to hide on it just dont want the hard drive to be full of stuff that maybe get into the wrong hands,if anyone can help that would be great.
If i did remove the hard drive from the tower i take its easy to find locate as im not really a computer techie in regards to taking it apart,if it had been a newer computer etc etc with no problems then i probably take it to a guy to sort out and sell,but feel it maybe not worth anything.
Or maybe there is places that take these from you that can make use of it,if so would still like to delete the hard drive or clean it up,incase they was able to get private info from it of me etc

gonzo127

DBAN is pretty good at getting rid of data, but as ever will not garentee 100% destruction.

to be honest if you are really concern about your data on it take the hard drive out (it is pretty easy to find) and keep it/ destroy it physically - ebay the rest as there are plenty of people out there who will take old computers and make good use of them, myself included

bwatt00

gonzo127 wrote: »

DBAN is pretty good at getting rid of data, but as ever will not garentee 100% destruction.

to be honest if you are really concern about your data on it take the hard drive out (it is pretty easy to find) and keep it/ destroy it physically - ebay the rest as there are plenty of people out there who will take old computers and make good use of them, myself included

Is dban free to use? or i could do as you say remove the hard drive which is another option,to be honest dont think i could be bothered with the selling of the reas on ebay as years old and there is a few issues with it when starting up etc etc,probably something sorted very easy by someone who knows.
I could probably sell it very cheap as is local papers etc etc if anyone wants it.

Its a compaq 7500 cant even remember when i got it.

bwatt00

what would something like this be worth to someone with monitor.

Dave_C_2

It all depends on your level of paranoia. Assuming you are going to take it down your local civic amenity recycling centre you have the following options in increasing order of security:

1. Log on as administrator and make a new administrator account. Log off and log on on new account. Delete all the other accounts. Not 100% secure but it will take an expert to extract useful info.
2. Download and run DBAN it will completely wipe the hard drive including the operating system.
3. Open up computer and look for the hard drive. It's attached to the main board by a ribbon cable and will look like this. The hard drive won't poke out the front of the Tower like a CD drive.
4. Remove the hard drive (4 screws 1 ribbon cable and a PSU cable) and install it in your new PC as a second hard drive
5. Remove the hard drive and set about it with a big hammer. The tolerances between the read heads and the platters are so fine that it won't take much to render the drive useless.
6. Better still remove the hard drive and extract the super strong magnets, ensuring that you scratch the platters.
7. Book a sea or ferry trip and throw it overboard.:)
8. If you can't afford a trip to an active volcano, then thermite will work.:)

Have fun and let your inner vandal take over!


Dave

bwatt00

Dave_C wrote: »

It all depends on your level of paranoia. Assuming you are going to take it down your local civic amenity recycling centre you have the following options in increasing order of security:

1. Log on as administrator and make a new administrator account. Log off and log on on new account. Delete all the other accounts. Not 100% secure but it will take an expert to extract useful info.
2. Download and run DBAN it will completely wipe the hard drive including the operating system.
3. Open up computer and look for the hard drive. It's attached to the main board by a ribbon cable and will look like this. The hard drive won't poke out the front of the Tower like a CD drive.
4. Remove the hard drive (4 screws 1 ribbon cable and a PSU cable) and install it in your new PC as a second hard drive
5. Remove the hard drive and set about it with a big hammer. The tolerances between the read heads and the platters are so fine that it won't take much to render the drive useless.
6. Better still remove the hard drive and extract the super strong magnets, ensuring that you scratch the platters.
7. Book a sea or ferry trip and throw it overboard.:)
8. If you can't afford a trip to an active volcano, then thermite will work.:)

Have fun and let your inner vandal take over!


Dave

anything else out there thats very easy to use to delete hard drive cant get my head around on how dban works,im sure i have it on cd now

Figment

Not certain how thorough it is, but CCleaner has a Drive Wiper

closed

decide what you are going to do with the machine first.

if you aren't going to sell the machine, the easiest and greenest solution is to keep the drive, and if you want put it in a usb caddy for backup

dban is easy to use if you created the cd properly, but it will wipe everything including windows, which will (if you don't reinstall it), reduce the value of machine

you could also keep the machine, and use it as backup

There are hundreds of threads on this subject, bizzarely a search for thermite will find a lot of them.

googler

closed wrote: »

the easiest and greenest solution is to keep the drive, and if you want put it in a usb caddy for backup

and as was said, you could consider keeping the whole machine and using it as a server / store / backup

Linbox

If you don't have a reinstall disk/partition or don't want to use something like MiniXP V11 or Don't want to install Linux

Delete all your data, unintall any programs you installed. Delete firefox/chrome/thunderbird/ google "clear all data in ie" delete C:\Users\YourUser
Use CCleaner space wipe to clean the disk.

getmore4less

Do low level formats not work?