Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (
More info?)
On 21-Apr-2004, sooky grumper <sookygrumper@fishies_.com> wrote:
> Paul S. wrote:
> > Paul S. wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >> I have an old (6 years) computer and I want to give it away to
> >> charity. But forst, I want to make sure the disks are completely
> >> erased in terms of any data I may have on them.
> >>
> >> How can I insure that the disks are completely cleaned of any personal
> >> data?
> >>
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >
> >
> > O.K., I should have been more specific. The computer is a Gateway, and,
> > I have the NT 4.0 installation disks. I have already re-formatted the D
> > drive using the NT "disk manager" program. So, I am pretty confident
> > that the D drive is a blank slate. But, the "Disk manager" won't let me
> > re-format the C drive since that's where the operating system "lives."
> >
> > If I re-install the operating system will it re-format the C drive and
> > thus erase any traces of old data on the disks? And, if not, then what?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Paul
> >
> >
>
> Paul, data is easilly recoverable even after a reformat. To make it more
> difficult, you'd want to use a program that overwrites the drive. I use
> one from bootdisk.com called Wipe. It only overwrites the drive once, so
> the data is still recoverable. A utility that overwrites it 7 times
> makes it pretty unrecoverable, even by FBI standards. If you're happy to
> take the chance of someone recovering your data, then there're plenty
> of programs that can wipe the partition table from a bootable floppy or
> cd. I use a windows98 boot floppy, which can be downloaded, and put Wipe
> onto it, then wipe the drive, repartition, and reformat it. Any data
> that's on the drive is still technically recoverable, but it won't be
> exceptionally easy to do. A simple reformat is pretty simple to work
> around, if you enjoy snooping. I've found some pretty sensitive stuff on
> old hard drives that people have thrown out. That's why companies often
> remove hard drives from computers prior to either disposing of them or
> donating them to charity. It's too easy to recover information, and may
> be too time consuming to effectively wipe every drive.
>
> --
> spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo
You need a program like Shred found @:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,13352,00.asp
rpilgrim7448@nospam-msn.com