I am going to be selling my computer, I was wondering how to permenetly erase all info that was once stored..?

Question

I am going to be selling my computer and I want to make sure nobody retrieves my personal info, there needs to be zero chance of this happening, bank account passwords etc.. ... I have heard that it is possible to get info from a hard drive or where ever else if anywhere else info is stored on a computer after it has been deleted or reformated etc.... So I need to know what I can do to make sure all data that was once on my computer is permenetly erased and can in no way be retrieved... Thank you for your input

Answer 1

As you can see from the comments, it all depends.

If you remove and recreate the partition(s), reformat the drive, and restore the system with the recovery disk, for all practical purposes, your personal data is gone. However, if you are really worring that the CIA or some techno geek is going to read "phantom" personal data off the disk, you can put some extra effort into it.

For free you can get Darik's Boot and Nuke floppy which will reduce your disk to random bits if you are willing to take the time.

If you have a restore CD, the resale value of the
computer will be greatly improved if you apply it to the computer after yiou are done scrambling the bits.

Answer 2

I agree with Twigg [above] I have on numerous occasions 'permanently' deleted files then by accident last week I deleted a file that I desperately needed. I downloaded a simple and free data recovery program, ran it and it found everything on my hard disk going back to 2003 which was before I owned it [even personal data of the previous owner] and it did it all in less that 10 minutes! So read carefully the options above, I've no idea what fdisk is - but if two folk are saying use it, then it has to be good.

Answer 3

There is no way to guarantee that the computer is clean unless you remove the hard drive and put a new one in. Even if you format, even if you do a complete drive wipe. Even if you just randomly write bits of data to a hard drive 20 times it is still possible to recover information from it with the right tools.

However, these tools are not cheap, and it is very unlikely that someone could actually get any usable information off your computer unless they were a professional.

Is it a risk you are willing to take?

Personally for me it is. If someone really wanted access to that kind of information they can find a way to get at it. Format the hard drive, buy a commercial drive wipe program, run it once or twice, you should be fine.

Answer 4

In order to permanently to delete everything so it can not be retrieved first you'll have to delete everything that you don't need and then write some junk data on top, so in order to make sure that everything is cleared you have fill up your HD with some junk files, usually you can take 1 big file and copy it over and over again until you have to no space left on your hard drive, you can do that few times and there is no chance that someone will un erase the data

Answer 5

seriously, if you dont want anyone to be able to retrieve ANY info, then destroy that harddrive and put a new one in. But if your not worried that whoever buys your pc is going to send the harddrive into one of those data recovery places that can recover almost anything (for a costly price that is), but still want any info removed, you can go download active kill at http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,22920-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html# then after that, repartition the harddrive, format and reinstall the operating system.
Of course, most people are not technicalogically advanced enough nor have the excessive funds to really find anything, so usually a fdisk, format, and reinstall the operating system will work fine.

Answer 6

There are programs you can purchase...either on-line or in a store...that will erase and permanently destroy all data on your hard drive.

Of course you can always make a boot disk for your computer and then make sure you have format and fdisk on it...then you can format your drive...repartition it...then format it again...and finally once you reinstall the operating system, you can perform a defragmentation of the drive which will destroy all data on the hard drive.

Answer 7

initialize the Hard Drive, and have it over-write the data multiple times. There will be a selection for this if you look. It will take a long time to carry out the action. When you erase data from a Hard drive it is not actually erased but rather tagged to be over-written.
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Answer 8

there's a software referred to as ERASER obtainable on mag cover disks and in all probability on line. It has the choice to construct a NUKE boot disk that thoroughly shreds all information on the disc to US branch of Defence standards or greater advantageous. then you extremely can set up a virgin replica of the working gadget and application. OR while you're particular you be attentive to the place all of the delicate information is you are able to selectively wipe information and go away the gadget intact. be conscious if any information is left it isn't the computing gadget person who could locate it, however the hacker who gets in whilst the protection isn't as much as date.

Answer 9

The best thing to do is to unformat your hard drive, then reformat it, then reinstall Windows. Your hard drive maufacturer should have a downloadable tool that you can put on a CD or floppy to completely unformat your drive (these utilities are often used to test new hard drives, but can be used to clean old ones too). There are also some commercial products that do this, I believe.

Answer 10

Format the harddrive:

1) Go to "My Computer"

2) Once there, you'll see harddrive partitions that are probably named something like "Local Disk (C:)"

3) Right-click on all of them and click "Format."

I think you may not be able to format the C drive, because it contains Windows.