Re: To ensure clean hd before selling unit: Best practice?

riprap1951@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hello, All
I'm planning to sell a laptop that's been in use for a couple of
years, & want to ensure that after the new owner gets the unit there's
zero chance of her/him coming across old/sensitive data.
Is a total re-format of the hard drive and a re-install of XP
sufficient? Or is it necessary to first use a drive-wipe utility like
DBan or Eraser?
Thanks in advance [:-)
riprap.



To protect your personal information and data from any future users of average skills, you should, at the very least, format the hard drive. If you wish to do a more thorough job of protecting your friend's personal data, WipeDrive (http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive.php) meets U.S. DoD standards for securely cleaning surplus unclassified hard drives, and could be used before formatting and reinstalling the OS and applications.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? .... I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! -Patrick Henry
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: removing Windows98
    ... To protect your personal information and data from any future users of average skills, you should, at the very least, format the hard drive. ... If you wish to do a more thorough job of protecting your friend's personal data, WipeDrive meets U.S. DoD standards for securely cleaning surplus unclassified hard drives, and could be used before formatting and reinstalling the OS and applications. ... They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: easiest way to clean a HD?
    ... To protect your personal information and data from any future users of average skills, you should, at the very least, format the hard drive. ... If you wish to do a more thorough job of protecting your personal data, WipeDrive meets U.S. DoD standards for securely cleaning surplus unclassified hard drives, and could be used before formatting and reinstalling the OS and applications. ... They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)