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DIY Forum >> Alarms, Phones, Aerials, CCTV & Datacomms >> What to do.
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Message started by hamilton on Sep 17th, 2008, 11:58am

Title: What to do.
Post by hamilton on Sep 17th, 2008, 11:58am
Now that I am the proud owner of an imac, I need to dispose of my old pc. How do I wipe the hard drive clean?  No, it's not full of porn, (well there might be just a little bit that I accidentally clicked on) but it does contain personal information.

If I stick everything in the waste basket it stays on the computer doesn't it?

Title: Re: What to do.
Post by Lectrician on Sep 17th, 2008, 3:57pm
Are you selling or binning?

You could format the hard drive, and then reinstall windows if you have the disks.  Takes about an hour, and the PC will then back to new, as if from the shop.

You could just format the drive, and sell it as formatted, supplied with windows disks.

If your binning it, just destroy the hard drive.

Title: Re: What to do.
Post by CWatters on Sep 18th, 2008, 8:09am
Take hard drive apart. Interesting looking inside them. Hammer = job done.

Title: Re: What to do.
Post by londonman on Sep 18th, 2008, 9:11am

Lectrician wrote on Sep 17th, 2008, 3:57pm:
Are you selling or binning?

You could format the hard drive, and then reinstall windows if you have the disks.  Takes about an hour, and the PC will then back to new, as if from the shop.

You could just format the drive, and sell it as formatted, supplied with windows disks.

If your binning it, just destroy the hard drive.


If you're selling it and are really paranoid then use a program like Shredit.

Title: Re: What to do.
Post by plugwash on Sep 18th, 2008, 10:58am

Lectrician wrote on Sep 17th, 2008, 3:57pm:
You could format the hard drive, and then reinstall windows if you have the disks.

DO NOT JUST FORMAT THE HARD DRIVE! Formatting destroys the structures reffering to data but the actual data is not destroyed until something happens to overwrite it!

Use a secure wipe tool like "dariks boot and nuke" before starting the reformat and reinstall or restore process.

Title: Re: What to do.
Post by hamilton on Sep 18th, 2008, 12:35pm
I think I might still have the windows cd. If I have, how do I format the hard drive?
What does that mean?

Must admit, I like the idea of taking the hammer to it, it has caused me some grief in the past and it would make me feel better.

Title: Re: What to do.
Post by CWatters on Sep 18th, 2008, 11:00pm
Save them up and when you have enough try this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdD9ypqoBk4

or use the whole PC..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfq8KtUHyGg&feature=related

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