i want to give my old computer away and want to delete everything in it. how do i go about doing that?
2006-08-12 18:54:05 · 12 answers · asked by hatchet juggalette 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Other - Computers
Reformat the disk. You can do this by inserting an installation CD for any OS, choosing to format the drive during installation, and then turning off the computer when formatting is done (no reason to give someone a free OS).
If you have personal / confidential files, you should individually "securly" delete them using a secure delete program. This will overwrite the file with useless data, making recovery of that data ineffective or less accurate.
2006-08-12 18:58:27 · answer #1 · answered by brgaming 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You have to format your computer. formatting is when you delete and clear all data from your hard drive. Even though you delete data in windows by sending it to the recycling bin, it is still there zon the hard drive, it is just waiting there to be written over with new data. this is why formats are usually needed, to clear all of the bad and corrupted data from god knows when off your hard drive. after you backup data onto your other hard drives or disks (If you want to save any data). click on the start menu, click on run, type cmd then press enter and a black console window will appear. type in format c: and press enter. bef ore you do this I recommend you research the net on how to partition and reformat to get a good background knowledge of the whole concept.
I hope I was of some assistance
Scott
2006-08-12 19:05:56 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on how paranoid you are, or what sort of evidence is on it. If the FBI really wants you and is willing to spend $$$$ to get you, not even a wipe program will completely eliminate all data. CIA and DoD require that hard drives containing classified national secrets be destroyed by shredding
If you just want to keep the casual user from seeing your Internet history, a repartition and reformat is probably sufficient. If you want to go a step beyond that, use a drive wipe program. I sometimes have to dispose of computers that were used in doctor's offices; Federal HIPAA regulations require that drives be securely wiped of data. I use a free program called Dariks's Boot n Nuke. http://dban.sourceforge.net
2006-08-12 19:13:57 · answer #3 · answered by Grizzly B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, first you should know that just deleting the files will not work, they can still be recovered buy most anyone.What you will need to do is "wipe "the hard drive. You can get a top rated utility, Wipe Pro, to do this at the following link.
2006-08-12 19:01:31 · answer #4 · answered by Back Porch Willy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You'll probably want to look for a Department of Defense compliant "wipe disk" utility.
Our company uses GDisk from Symantec.
It writes over every sector of the disk multiple times making the original data impossible to recover.
2006-08-12 19:05:40 · answer #5 · answered by Bob W 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Formatting the harddrive WONT remove the information on it...if you want to totally WIPE the harddrive you'll need a program that does that...there's many of them on the Internet...
http://www.iolo.com/ds/ (drive scrubber)
2006-08-12 18:58:31 · answer #6 · answered by MUff1N 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should format it, then fill it up with files and format it again. Then, fill it up with files, and format it. This way, it will become almost impossible to recover the files.
2006-08-12 19:00:50 · answer #7 · answered by Yahoo! Answerer 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
reformat the hard drive and delete the op sys.
2006-08-12 18:56:39 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
format it using a bootable CD!
2006-08-12 18:56:38 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
alright, u got me curios. what do you got on there that you dont want 2 be seen?
2006-08-12 18:56:27 · answer #10 · answered by deleted 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋