wiping computers before selling or disposing of

Y

ydono

New Member
I have 3 laptops that I need to wipe clean. what is the process and can I do it when I don't have the password to get into it.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Wipe them by using the OS media. Just delete existing partitions and repartion and install windows.
 
Y

ydono

New Member
I should mention I have a wipe boot disc that a tech at my job gave me. can I just use that and how?
 
Okedokey

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
In addition to above, download dban, burn to cd, start the computer and boot to that cd and follow on screen instructions.
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
mistersprinkles said:
Can I buy some drugs from you? How is that in any way secure? Gotta wipe the drive properly or better yet remove it and destroy it.
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Depends on the definition of wipe. If it didn't have any sensitive info or were PCs from other people then he probably doesn't have a huge requirement for zeroing out everything. Much faster to just dump the partition table and reinstall Windows.
 
Okedokey

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
Thats true, but dumping the partition file can be recovered very easily. I wouldn't trust selling a pc with HDD, but if I did, I would def let dban run overnight.
 
mistersprinkles

mistersprinkles

Active Member
beers said:
Depends on the definition of wipe. If it didn't have any sensitive info or were PCs from other people then he probably doesn't have a huge requirement for zeroing out everything. Much faster to just dump the partition table and reinstall Windows.
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Op said "I have 3 laptops that I need to wipe clean" so to me that means overwriting everything with a utility that does that.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
The majority of people won't know how to recover data from a drive, unless you are a computer geek. @mistersprinkles You really like going back to old threads and bringing them back up don't you?
 
mistersprinkles

mistersprinkles

Active Member
johnb35 said:
The majority of people won't know how to recover data from a drive, unless you are a computer geek. @mistersprinkles You really like going back to old threads and bringing them back up don't you?
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Necro.jpg
 
C

Cisco001

Well-Known Member
Are you selling or dispose?

If it is dispose, just physically remove the HDD, and destroy it with hammer...
 
Okedokey

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
johnb35 said:
The majority of people won't know how to recover data from a drive, unless you are a computer geek. @mistersprinkles You really like going back to old threads and bringing them back up don't you?
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This is simply opinion, I would rather wipe the drive properly or remove it from the computer for sale than leave it to chance. Recovering a 'deleted' partition is something anyone can do with very little knowledge, and probably the first thing anyone might try if they receive a computer with no OS.
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
Okedokey said:
but dumping the partition file can be recovered very easily.
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I agree, depends on the data. If it was someone else's data then it has no value to me. If I'm selling out of my own stock then it gets a few random data passes.

The part where the OP indicated he didn't know the passwords for all three implied to me that they were obtained from other sources in some (maybe nefarious?) fashion.
 
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