Hard drive

RoyT

New Member
Hi,
I'm giving a computer away and I wonder what's on the hard drive? Is it just things I've deleted? How do I clean it?
Thanks, RoyT
 
Thanks Denther and Perkomate for answering. Do I need another computer, can't I format on the computer itself?
RoyT
 
Last edited:
Thanks Denther and Perkomate for answering. Do I need another computer, can't I format on the computer itself?
RoyT

You will need to do one of two things:

Take the side panel off the new PC you have, and using a SATA cable plug the old hard drive (with the PC off) into the motherboard in a free sata port. Also make sure you have a power cable plugged in as well. Refer to the current drive in the new PC for reference. Power the PC on, and then you can right click my computer and go to manage, go to disk management, from there you can manipulate the drive easily.

Another option is to use an external USB enclosure you can pick up for probably 20 dollars, put the drive in it and then hook up via USB externally and you can format the drive then.
 
I'd download Killdisk or Darik's boot and nuke (Dban), burn it to a disc and boot the disc and zero out the drive.
It is harder for an amateur to recover data from a zeroed out drive than a formatted one.
Recovering data from a formatted drive is too easy.
 
I'd download Killdisk or Darik's boot and nuke (Dban), burn it to a disc and boot the disc and zero out the drive.
It is harder for an amateur to recover data from a zeroed out drive than a formatted one.
Recovering data from a formatted drive is too easy.

This.
With DBAN, you don't have to do anything to the computer other than burn a disc or use a USB to run it.
 
Thanks Perkomate, Denther,Cwizardtx and MyCattmaxx for your thoughts on the subject. I'm thinking of going with DBAN.
RoyT
 
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