Cleaning a Hard Drive

[londonblue]

I've been asked to dispose of my mother in law's pooter, and need to know how to delete all the software and files before hand so that there's nothing left on the hard drive.

The PC has Vista on it, and obviously has a reg number on the side. Can I just re-install Vista using this reg? Or do I need to delete all the files properly? If I need to delete everything properly, can any of you recommend some software?

 

[Bielzibubz]

As it's running Vista I assume it's a relatively newish system. If that's the case the vast majority of computers and laptops nowadays come pre-installed with their own back up/recovery programme. have a look through the installed software and if you come across either this or a third party programme it should give you the option to revert the computer back to it's original factory condition, ie a completely clean hard drive. If you can't find a programme the likes of which I've described then boot the machine and during the pre windows launch process check to see if a recovery option isn't available as one of the options. Hope this helps

Phil

 

[C C Csiders]

I've forwarded all advice to Gary Glitter and Matthew Kelly.

 

[Jam_Man]

When you say dispose of do you mean pass on or bin ?

If its the former then reinstall vista if you have the disk using the serial you have. However bear in mind that even this may leave files behind, that most people wont be able to see or retirieve but someone crafty in the know may. If theres nothing sensitive on there then nothing to worry about.

If its the latter, take the hard disk out and smash the wobblies out of it with a hammer. That'll learn it!

 

[TrueBlue]

I've forwarded all advice to Gary Glitter and Matthew Kelly.

What about Pete Townsend! I remember Old Blue Lady trying to cover up about him!

 

[blues_r_best]

If its the latter, take the hard disk out and smash the wobblies out of it with a hammer. That'll learn it!

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

 

[Berrichonne shrimper]

To clean my hard drive of all old women porn before my mother-in-law catches me i like to use the dishwasher,always comes up clean for me.

 

[londonblue]

When you say dispose of do you mean pass on or bin ?

If its the former then reinstall vista if you have the disk using the serial you have. However bear in mind that even this may leave files behind, that most people wont be able to see or retirieve but someone crafty in the know may. If theres nothing sensitive on there then nothing to worry about.

If its the latter, take the hard disk out and smash the wobblies out of it with a hammer. That'll learn it!

I mean pass on. The PC was actually my father in law's (he passed away about a month ago) and he used it to run his property business. Everything was backed up on an external hard drive, but he couldn't get the hang of using it, so most of the very sensitive files are still on the internal drive. I really need to make sure it is clean before I sell it on.

 

[haveaguiness]

I really wouldn't advise giving the hard-drive to someone if it has sensitive info on it. Even if you format the drive people can still get info from it using easy to obtain software. If it's vista, I'm guessing (as someone has already mentioned) that you have no disks to install the software, but that it comes with a mini 10GB hard-drive which has all the files for loading Vista to a new hard-drive. So basically if you are selling it or passing it on, just inform them it has no hard-drive for obvious security reasons, but the Vista system is ready to go once a new hard-drive is installed.

The best way to not let anyone see the info on the hard-drive is to drill a hole in it. I have seen hard disks set on fire, beaten with a hammer, even run over and data still taken from it.

 

[Suomi Shrimper]

When i wanted to wipe a couple of old drives (before destroying physically though as opposed to selling on), I used DBAN's Boot and Nuke:

http://www.dban.org/

You load it onto a floppy disc which you boot when you turn the computer on (after backing up anything you want to save of course!) and the program will load up. It gives you a number of options for wiping the entire drive, from a basic erase up to an erase followed by writing random data across the entire drive repeatedly. IIRC, one of the options is the US DoD standard.

With very high-tech equipment, some data could still be retrieved, but it should be safe from the typical rogue. As has already been said though, the only way to make it properly secure is to wipe and overwrite then physically destroy the drive with some kind of blunt or pointy instrument!

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Drive Scrubber is an option if you don't trust anything else. It comes with System Mechanic pro that I use to keep my PC running nicely.
http://ioiotechnologies.com/ds/3/

 

[Crawliano]

Save the aggro, go to Big Pockets, buy a new hard drive 500gb will be about 40 notes, download an OEM version of Vista from anywhere (you've got the key, I've had aggro installing before but you just phone Microsoft and after ten minutes they unlock it) and then take the old hard drive, buy a caddy for it (about 5-10 quid) and bish bash bosh, you can store it, or if that fails. Get a big magnet and leave the two to acquaint themselves for an hour or so.