Im getting ready to sell my computer to by brother but want to strip all information it might have saved on its hard drive can i do this without reinstalling XP i dont want credit cards info broswer history stuff like that. Im only a novice copmuter person but with detailed instructions i can fix it.
Hard Drive Question
- Thread starter craw8101
- Start date
well the only way other than formatting the drive would be to just go in and delete everything possible....which would be very hard and time-consuming. It would also be recoverable.
Essentially, the only way to completely remove data from a hard drive is to format it, but I think that you already know this. I see no other way than to just delete everything.
CrapCleaner will help you here...google for it
Essentially, the only way to completely remove data from a hard drive is to format it, but I think that you already know this. I see no other way than to just delete everything.
CrapCleaner will help you here...google for it
You can manually remove quite a bit off of a drive by first creating a user account for your brother with a followup deletion of your user account if separate from the Adminstrator's default. Upon removal there you can simply drag a good number of directories regarding that account(MyDocuments has a good number of more personal info there) right into the recycle bin. You would do this after backing any information or other files up to removable media for the transfer to the new system. Choosing the "Delete all offline content" option right now by going up to the "tools" link on the Internet Explorer bar to clear the offline content stored in temporary folders as well as the IE history. That can help in clearing all transactions like ordering online where personal information can be exposed. But the option to wipe the drive completely to insure all personal data is gone for good and perform a reinstallation of Windows if you have the installation cd there. Do you want some basic experience real fast.
"How to install Windows XP in 5 hours or less" http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/08/04/xp
http://sniptools.com/tipstricks/reinstall-windows-xp-without-product-activation
"How to install Windows XP in 5 hours or less" http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/08/04/xp
http://sniptools.com/tipstricks/reinstall-windows-xp-without-product-activation
The most thorough but probably would not have any need here would be what is termed a zero fill utility that writes binary zeros to the drive. Nothing survives this process. Usually the only time that has a mandatory place is when a drive is infected with one or more viruses or something along those lines. Booting off of the XP cd to perform a new installation allows you to wipe the existing partition(s) and create a totally new one. Your brother would have a nice clean running machine to start off with.