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Data removal

jerica
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Posted August 14, 2011 at 12:25PM

Hi, I've got and oldish computer that I want to give to charity, what is the best way of removing any data that is on the hard drive? Thanks.

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ams4127

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Posted August 14, 2011 at 8:34PM

Re format and then use a programme to overwrite the disk.

For total safety, remove disk and use a very large hammer to smash it to bits. Remembering all the times it gave you troubles during it's life makes this a most enjoyable experience!!

Bay a new, small, HDD and fit that.

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Taff™

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Posted August 15, 2011 at 8:18AM

You don`t want to make the computer unusable so tell me what operating system is it using - XP or the older Win98? Do you have recovery DVD's or has the computer got a hidden recovery partition?

Reinstalling the OS will overwrite the hard disk sufficiently for just personal data. Someone would have to have the knowledge and inclination to recover your data after this. If you are paranoid however you can, as suggested, overwrite the drive with several "passes" of Dban Dban Website

Once that's done ideally you would want to re-install the OS before handing it over to the Charity in question. Charities who specialise in recycling old computers would do all this for you so it depends if they fall into this category.

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northumbria61

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Posted August 15, 2011 at 1:02PM

Jerica - why the double Post ? link text

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jerica

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Posted August 15, 2011 at 1:34PM

Ta for the info. Double post because I'm computer dumb.

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