Wiping old PC

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scottydl

scottydl

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I've got an old PC that I am donating.  All the files I want to save are already transferred off the hard drive, and I want to give it a clean wipe before sending on to its next owner.  I plan to donate the machine with an empty hard drive, no OS installed or anything.  What's the best software (preferably freeware) to accomplish this?
 
Even with a software cleaning, it is possible for data to be recovered, but it would take NSA grade equipment.  The only truly secure method of wiping a drive is physical destruction.  With hard drives as cheap as they are today, it might be better to just buy a cheap drive and stick it in, if you're truly paranoid :)
 
I'm not paranoid, I just wanted to do more than "Select All" and "Delete".  This is going to whoever responds from my local Freecycle group, so I'm not too overly concerned of anybody cracking the code of my deleted data.  ;)
 
Scotty, used PCs are not in high demand (even for free) and are generally not worth the cost of reinstalling an Operating System. 

If you are truly concerned about someone claiming your pc, and having the inclination or ability to retrieve your erased data, then just chuck the unit in the trash.  Otherwise, leave the operating system intact for some kid or needy person to be able to use for it's intended purpose. jmho
 
Worrying that someone is going to take an old hard drive and read the dots and spaces with a microscope, read the machine code and translate it and all the data into English, and then finding sensitive data and then using that data for some bad purpose boggles the mind. You gotta be really paranoid to worry about an old hard drive.
 
The answer to how do you wipe it depends on what you had on it.. If you have files that you would be embarassed by should they land in the hands of the police, or the evening news... Then I recommend replacing the hard drive, do a RESTORE using the restore CD's that came with the computer and "De-Militarzing" the original hard drive.

That involves hammers. anvels, explosives, flame throwers and other various and assorted means of reducing the orignial drive to it's constituant atoms..  NOTE: this is not a joke, it is how the army does it. (Actually I'm holding back a bit, they are much more destcrutive)

However if you are like me.. Don't put on the HD what you don't want on the NEWS.. The programs above are good... If you have the "Out of the box" CD's use them.. If not ship it with a generic Linux distro (Downloadable type) or just ship it NO O/S
 
aka Porky said:
Scotty, used PCs are not in high demand (even for free) . . .  and are generally not worth the cost of reinstalling an Operating System. 
Click to expand...

I'm not reinstalling an operating system, that's my point.  A complete wipe will serve my purposes just fine.  I'd just prefer that any of my personal information/data left behind on the HD does not go with the system.

I'm not sure where you live, but I know there are needy families in my community who can & will use this computer.  Freecycle is one of the greatest resources here (check it out at freecycle.org to find your local chapter if you don't already know about it), I've gotten and given all kinds of things that otherwise would have been "chucked" unnecessarily.

Darik's is indeed what I'm going to use, I got that suggestion on another forum too.  A second recommendation was "Ultimate Boot CD" which has something called "Killdisk" bundled in, but that is a 95mb download vs. Darik's 5mb so we'll go the smaller route first.  ;)
 
scottydl said:
I'm not reinstalling an operating system, that's my point. 
Click to expand...

You missed my point.  I simply meant that you are reducing the value of the PC, to a potential needy user, to near zero, by removing the Operating system.

The person likely to claim your PC, without an OpSys, will just want it for the component parts to sell, not donate, to some needy person.  Again, jmho.

We have freecycle.org here also.  I haven't used it yet, but then I never throw anything away either. :D :D ;D
 
I gotcha.  ;)  Thing is, I don't really have an OS to install clean.  The version of Win XP on there was *ahem* less than legal when it was installed years back, and I don't really want to continue that tradition.  If someone wants to take the time to dissect the system and sell for parts, that's ok with me too.  At least it won't get thrown away.  ;)
 
Scotty, you could put a Linux distro, like Ubuntu, on it and it would be a very capable computer for someone and not cost anything for the OS or applications.
 
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