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Cleaning a hard drive

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by milstanselnino, Jun 24, 2005.

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  1. milstanselnino

    milstanselnino Formula Junior

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    #1 milstanselnino, Jun 24, 2005
    I have some used computers I'd like to sell or donate. How do I clean them up, so that my name/passwords/documents etc are not accesible to the new owner? One is Windows 95, the other is ME.
    Anyone able to help?
    Thanks
     
  2. 62 250 GTO

    62 250 GTO F1 Veteran

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    Neil
    #2 62 250 GTO, Jun 24, 2005
    I think just re-formating them and installing the operating systems should do it.
     
  3. Jdubbya

    Jdubbya The $10 Trillion Man
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    #3 Jdubbya, Jun 24, 2005
    If they have any personal info on them I'd buy a "wiping program". These programs overwrite everything multiple times so it supposedly can't be recovered. I did this when I donated an old PC of mine since I do on-line banking and bill pay. I found a program that wasn't very expensive and I just downloaded it and ran it. Then you can re-format it and re-install the operating system. One hint though, make sure you have migrated all the stuff you want to save to your new one before using the wiping program.
     
  4. enjoythemusic

    enjoythemusic F1 World Champ

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    #4 enjoythemusic, Jun 27, 2005
    Can i have your old HDs? ;-) There will be TONS of good info on them :)
     
  5. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
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    #5 Schatten, Jun 27, 2005
    Ditto to that.

    Formatting doesn't do squat. Heck, I can take a drive, format it, reinstall it with the same partition table and voila, most of the data is still there... well, that doesn't happen too often but it is still there and accessible.

    You need a low level formatting device or diskette. Something that will write 1's or 0's and do it several times over to the drive itself. I have a few, but cannot suggest one at this time of the morning without utilities disks in front of me.
     
  6. teak360

    teak360 F1 World Champ

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    #6 teak360, Jun 27, 2005
    Oxyclean....
     
  7. 285ferrari

    285ferrari Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #7 285ferrari, Jun 27, 2005
    A 10# sledgehammer should do the trick--$15 at Home Depot
     
  8. enjoythemusic

    enjoythemusic F1 World Champ

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    #8 enjoythemusic, Jun 27, 2005
    Agreed, this is the best solution.
     

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