what program to wipe hard drive?

pinkgem

i have sold my old computer and have formatted the hard drive but want to make sure that all the data is completely gone

can anyone recommend a free program i can download to do this?

Blacksheep1979

dban will do the job

pinkgem

my computer did not come with a recovery disc, windows xp is on the hard drive, if i wipe it will it delete the recovery files and windows xp?

Millionare

pinkgem wrote: »

my computer did not come with a recovery disc, windows xp is on the hard drive, if i wipe it will it delete the recovery files and windows xp?

you could also try Window washer free trial, use the setting to wash your pc then there is a option to wipe the free drive space of deleted data so wont touch anything else.

http://www.webroot.com/consumer/downloads/

albertross_2

http://www.cbltech.ca/data-shredder.html

emmaroids

of course you can never fully delete a hard drive.

theres always a bit of it that is unaccessable.

lee634

emmaroids wrote: »

of course you can never fully delete a hard drive.

theres always a bit of it that is unaccessable.

you can with a hammer and saw

thomas01155

Or you could marinade it over night in acid, and then cook at gas mark 9 for 6 hours.
Always use a harddirve thermometer or you could get a nasty virus from it harddrive flu
Approximate Cooking Time in 325° Oven

6 to 8 pounds 3 to 3 1/2 hours 185º
8 to 12 pounds 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours 185º
12 to 16 pounds 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours 185º
16 to 20 pounds 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 hours 185º
20 to 24 pounds 6 1/2 to 7 hours 185º

thomasbentley_2

Dear lee & thomas01155,
i know some one who worked in an 'american' embassy,
whose only job was to smash hard drives with a sledge hammer-
the only sure way of deleting info.
quite like the acid idea,
tb

Cricri

I'd recommend Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) as well, it's free, small and does a good job.
http://dban.sourceforge.net/

ormus

the ultimate boot cd has at least 3 progs on it for formatting deleting etc.. as well as loads of other hdd tools. very useful cd to have.