wiping pc clean

CyberJuice

hey guys,i have my pc sold and id like to wipe all my personal info off of it

will a fresh install of windows 7 do this? i have the windows 7 cd here but ive never done anything like this before,i just want to make sure my info cannot be retrieved in the future ie passwords, bank details, cc details,chats and such.. ive heard that a fresh install of windows will do this

but would it also remove any other prgrams from the pc?

cookie1977

Use this:
http://www.dban.org/
And reinstall windows

U_Fig

CyberJuice wrote: »

hey guys,i have my pc sold and id like to wipe all my personal info off of it

will a fresh install of windows 7 do this? i have the windows 7 cd here but ive never done anything like this before,i just want to make sure my info cannot be retrieved in the future ie passwords, bank details, cc details,chats and such.. ive heard that a fresh install of windows will do this

but would it also remove any other prgrams from the pc?

Data on a Hard Drive can still be recovered even after a format a fresh install of windows..all you need is one of the many free recovery tools.

You can stop most of these by doing a low level format (without going too technical) it basically overwrites the sectors on the disc which stops recovery software from recovering it.. The data might still be recovered but only by specialised software..that no normal person would have access to..

DBAN mentioned above is this kind of low level format..I'd advise a 3 pass to make sure data is completely gone. it will take a while depending on the size and speed of the disk it can take up to 12 hours for a 3 pass low level format

Then reinstall windows

CyberJuice

thanks for the replies guys..im completely untechnical with this stuff dban looks like it could be tricky to use.. im just lookin for the easiest way to delete any personal info that might be on the pc

would a cCleaner do the same thing as dban or are they 2 different tools?

cookie1977

Cleaner isn't too bad. Run the wipe freespace tool and write 35 times.

CyberJuice

how long would the ccleaner take?ive got mayb 18 hours

cookie1977

CyberJuice wrote: »

how long would the ccleaner take?ive got mayb 18 hours

Depends on the hard drive size. But it could take that time

U_Fig

CyberJuice wrote: »

thanks for the replies guys..im completely untechnical with this stuff dban looks like it could be tricky to use.. im just lookin for the easiest way to delete any personal info that might be on the pc

would a ccCleaner do the same thing as dban or are they 2 different tools?

you can just use a standard format when you are reinstalling windows

1. boot up the windows disc
2. after it says setup starting agree to the EULA
3. Choose (custom advanced)
4.click on drive options advanced
5. click on the partition you are going to reinstall windows on and click delete
5. create a new partition of whatever size
6. use this to install windows on

this method will delete the data of the disc however using the right software that's freely available the data can be recovered..

in saying most people won't know about this or bother doing this so odds are you'll be grand with this method but if you really want to be sure use DBAN. this eliminates the possbility

DBAN is not hard you download it burn it to a disc boot off the disk and follow instructions.

i just found out cCleaner has a disk writing tool (didn't know that) but if you are booting into windows and running it it will only let you wipe the free space of the disc and not the entire disc..
the only way to wipe the entire disc is to use a boolable format tool.. like DBAN

cookie1977

Ccleaner has a "wipe free space" feature which can over write free space up to 35 times rendering recovery of deleted data very difficult. So it is a useful feature. It's under settings to the left.

It can also delete junk files.

fasttalkerchat

Good advice so farbut keep in mind that your data never 100% goes away.
Unless the hard disk is 120GB or more I wouldn't bother selling the disk. You can pick up used 80GB disks for a tenner so it won't affect the selling price.

Torqay

To be 100% sure to be 100% sure, you will have to physically destroy the hard drive (take it apart and give the disks a good workout with a blow torch or sledgehammer), and shatter the remains at sea.

As for putting any data beyond possible recovery without doing physical damage to the disk, DBAN will do a pretty good job.