How to wipe desktop hard drive before disposal

Neil_Jones

For anything other than internet, XP is fine. There are no supported web browsers available for it now, the last being Firefox which pulled the plug in June this year.

The only thing to be aware of is when the printers fail and the likes of Epson, HP and friends stop providing support for XP, so your hand will be forced at some point.

Undervalued

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Really? I have and old 2006 vintage Compaq Presario with Windows XP on it in my workshop and it works perfectly well for general admin, watching DVDs, listening to music etc, the only thing i don't do is use it for internet. I accept that XP is finished from a support point of view but there are people who just want a word processor.

Indeed but because so few people want a computer without usable internet and because so many computers are discarded for that reason it is all but worthless financially.

OP - Unless you know a charity actually wants it you may well be doing them a disservice by giving it to them as they probably have to pay to dispose of commercial waste.

Yes in many ways it is sad, crazy even, but that is the truth.

Regarding the data then unless you have truly exceptional security concerns then a free utility like DBAN should be more than enough.

Undervalued

Uxb wrote: »

At the other extreme other governemnt depts will take apart the hard drives themselves and sandblast the magnetic material off the actual discs platters.

Yes, but that is like comparing the security requirements for a bank vault or national art collection with an average domestic house!

interstellaflyer

Neil_Jones wrote: »

For anything other than internet, XP is fine. There are no supported web browsers available for it now, the last being Firefox which pulled the plug in June this year.

The only thing to be aware of is when the printers fail and the likes of Epson, HP and friends stop providing support for XP, so your hand will be forced at some point.

In my case not a problem at the moment, my HP Laserjet 2015n is in perfect working order and my Brother DCP-J132W will work on XP. I don't know about other brands but some of Brothers current range will work on XP according to specs from Brother.

Also you'd be surprised at how many people don't bother with internet, we have quite a few customers who don't go online with a computer, one of our customers has an old Epson printer which he uses as a photocopier and does everything else on an old Canon Starwriter.

Nasqueron

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Really? I have and old 2006 vintage Compaq Presario with Windows XP on it in my workshop and it works perfectly well for general admin, watching DVDs, listening to music etc, the only thing i don't do is use it for internet. I accept that XP is finished from a support point of view but there are people who just want a word processor.

Useless as in you can't give it away to a charity or whatever, particularly if the HD is removed and wiped as the machine is so old and no more support from MS unless you pay. Windows 7 is likely to be the minimum (maybe they even 10 now). For a home media centre XP is probably ok but not much else. I have an old laptop running windows 98, previously on 95 - is probably 15 years old and even had to get an external floppy drive after the old HD died to get it all up and running. Has internet via a USB dongle! Also have an old work one that they let me have after wiping running XP which I used to play old games on. Probably should get rid of them both really.

Suppose you could always wipe it a few times (used Blancco at my last job and HM standard was 3x pass wipe for the machines we supported / physical destruction if HD couldn't be wiped - that was industrial shredder on site job). Then reinstall XP or even try and get 7 on it and give it away.

Personally would just take the HD once wiped and take the machine to the council tip for recycling

interstellaflyer

Nasqueron wrote: »

Useless as in you can't give it away to a charity

Generally charities won't take anything electrical regardless because they have to get electrical items safety checked before they can sell them.

Ergates

Uxb wrote: »

At the other extreme other governemnt depts will take apart the hard drives themselves and sandblast the magnetic material off the actual discs platters.

That was back in the day when hard disk platters were a plate of metal a few mm thick. These days they're much thinner so they just shred them.

googler

pineapple wrote: »

Hello
I am going to donate or give away my Windows XP desktop and want to make sure all personal info is wiped. What is the best way of doing this? Cheers.

Take the hard drive out and keep it.

shaun_from_Africa

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Generally charities won't take anything electrical regardless because they have to get electrical items safety checked before they can sell them.

In the past maybe but nowadays it's different.
Although the items still have to be tested, there are a lot of companies and qualified electricians who will do this for free for charities.

A quick search on Google found that some of the big charity shops that will accept electrical goods are:
Sue Ryder,
Red Cross,
British heart foundation,
Cancer research UK,
Some Oxfam shops,
Some PDSA shops.


And I'm sure that there are loads more.

interstellaflyer

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

In the past maybe but nowadays it's different.
Although the items still have to be tested, there are a lot of companies and qualified electricians who will do this for free for charities.

A quick search on Google found that some of the big charity shops that will accept electrical goods are:
Sue Ryder,
Red Cross,
British heart foundation,
Cancer research UK,
Some Oxfam shops,
Some PDSA shops.


And I'm sure that there are loads more.

OK I stand corrected, I just remember signs outside charity shops saying no electrical goods