I want wipe out a computer so I can donate it.

[vajflores]

Hi,
Using WDS I deleted the partitions and then formatted the disk. In the end, bootmgr missing message now appears. I just want to make sure this is a good way to wipe out the computer.

 

[ollpu]

The data might not be completely wiped, and some of it can be retained with special software. You will have to use a tool, that writes zeros on top of the old data, so it can't be recovered.

 

[vajflores]

The data might not be completely wiped, and some of it can be retained with special software. You will have to use a tool, that writes zeros on top of the old data, so it can't be recovered.

Thanks. It's going to a needy children in our community and someone is going to install open source software on it before giving it to the kids. So perhaps then what I'm doing is enough? (Wish I could leave Windows on it for them).

 

[ollpu]

The data might not be completely wiped, and some of it can be retained with special software. You will have to use a tool, that writes zeros on top of the old data, so it can't be recovered.

Thanks. It's going to a needy children in our community and someone is going to install open source software on it before giving it to the kids. So perhaps then what I'm doing is enough? (Wish I could leave Windows on it for them).

It will be enough, if the software completely re-writes everything. That is probably not going to happen.

When you just delete files on your hard drive, the data will stay there, your OS only deletes the path to that file. Once that space needs to be used, it will be written over.

 

[vajflores]

The data might not be completely wiped, and some of it can be retained with special software. You will have to use a tool, that writes zeros on top of the old data, so it can't be recovered.

Thanks. It's going to a needy children in our community and someone is going to install open source software on it before giving it to the kids. So perhaps then what I'm doing is enough? (Wish I could leave Windows on it for them).

It will be enough, if the software completely re-writes everything. That is probably not going to happen.

When you just delete files on your hard drive, the data will stay there, your OS only deletes the path to that file. Once that space needs to be used, it will be written over.

Oh. even after I delete the partition?

 

[ollpu]

The data might not be completely wiped, and some of it can be retained with special software. You will have to use a tool, that writes zeros on top of the old data, so it can't be recovered.

Thanks. It's going to a needy children in our community and someone is going to install open source software on it before giving it to the kids. So perhaps then what I'm doing is enough? (Wish I could leave Windows on it for them).

It will be enough, if the software completely re-writes everything. That is probably not going to happen.

When you just delete files on your hard drive, the data will stay there, your OS only deletes the path to that file. Once that space needs to be used, it will be written over.

Oh. even after I delete the partition?

Yes, if I am not completely mistaken.

 

[jaguarskx]

You can use a utility called DBAN that will write over your current data with 1's and 0's. This is the best way destroy data on the hard disk. It does not mean the data is 100% destroyed though. Data recovery is theoretically still possible, but would be time consuming and expensive. The only to absolutely ensure the data on the hard drive cannot be recover is to phyiscally destroy the hard drive.

You can use DBAN to destroy data even on the C: drive. Simply download and burn to a CD or DVD, then boot from the DVD drive which should automatically load DBAN. Simply go through the menu options to wipe that C: drive. Since this basically destroys the data you will need to re-install Windows which is something you will have to do anyway.

http://www.dban.org/download

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwCCim2V_Jw&noredirect=1


Simply deleting the partition does not erase the data, it simple lets the hard drive know that there is new space to write data to. The actual data is still there until it is overwritten.