How can I completely deep clean my pc? As i have a new one but dont want to leave any info on this one.?

Question

When I dispose of it. Please dont come up with the tools/internet options etc as I know this one but it not a through as the ones you can download.

Answer 1

READ VERY IMPORTANT

Refromating will not make your data go away. I can sit here and explain why but im not gona cause it would take way to long and way to much to teach. Instead i'll tell you to go download any software that zero's out your harddrive. Its sometimes refered to low level formating. But I have heard of FBI data recovery experts still getting information off them after a low level format. So the best way is to destory the drive.

Answer 2

Some good answers here and some not so good: Reformatting does not get rid of data nor does a bathtub nor in fact does fire if there are any usable sectors on the drive a partial data retrieval can be done. I'm not eve sure wiping with a magnet would be truly sufficient. The best advice comes from those who recommend the use of DoD disk wipe or Government wipe. It wipes the drives writes 1 and 0's over it does it again and again and again. When you format the data is still there waiting to be overwritten by using this process the hidden memory is removed

Answer 3

Although You 'could' download a formatter or something like evidence eliminator or .. something that will effectively wipe it will all 1's and zeros, and a varierty of other techniques to a bootable floppy or mount the drive on another machine. (you didn't want to hear that?) FYI I think the MOD standard is a 7 times overwrite including a reformat! You could also try :-

1) Physically remove and destroy it?? This should ensure everything's well and truly gone.

2) I would probably just do a low level format (selectable from many installed bios programs), depending on how sensitive the data on it is??

Answer 4

The only sure way is to do what is known as a "Government Wipe", and unless this is done even reformatting the hard drive will not completely eliminate all the information on the hard drive. A Government Wipe overwrites the entire hard drive with zero and one repeatedly until the hard drive is completely covered then it does a reformat of the hard drive.

Answer 5

I use a program called DBAN. I am a Network Admin at a bank and we occasionally donate older PC's to schools etc. This program boots off of a floppy and has many choices on the types or "wipes" you can do. Any choice with a 3 pass wipe should be enough and make your data unrecoverable.

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Answer 6

I was told to take the hard disk out and rub it on a decent sized magnet of some sort... apparently it wipes info off. Prob a good idea as we type in credit card details into sites etc. I cant even turn my old computer on, its so knackered, so this is prob my only option.

Answer 7

Formatting your HarD Drive will not erase all the data off of it - I can and have successfully retrieved corporate and personal data off of old HDD's from old PC's & MAC's that I have refurbished

You'll want a HDD eraser that has the DoD Dept of Defense strength. I use White Canyon's Wipe Drive
http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive.php

There are others out there.

Answer 8

Only way is to format it, but make sure you know how to do this properly!.
But formatting really does clear everything, so this means that you will have to reinstall all of your drivers and setup personal preferences all over again if you need to.
I personally would never use a system program or service to do it for you.

Format it everytime!!!!!

Answer 9

Take out the hard drive, take it apart and destroy the disc(s) inside by cutting them up using tin snips. This is the ONLY sure fire way to protect yourself. If you don't want to destroy the hard drive then you need to do a "low level format". You should find this option in your Bios. If your not sure how to do it then you need a techie friend to help you.

Answer 10

use Tune up utilities, there is even a fully functional trial version. with in it there is a tool called tune up shredder, it will write over the old data with lots of zeros up to 7 times so even the FBI wont be able to recove it. (also tune up is great for making your pc run faster.)