How to clear a PC for passing on.

[rickyamos]

I got a copy of dban if you need it just pm me

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[ged]

There is no way to completely erase files without specialist utilities and experience. ...

I think Red meant without using the lump hammer there.

That isn't true. There are plenty of easy to use software's that you can run via desktop or at boot to erase a disk well beyond recovery and no experience is needed. It's simply ...

The easy to use software probably won't work. Modern ('SMART' capable) disc drives are capable of transparently remapping into use, on-the-fly, unused spare tracks which are available on the platter(s) to replace tracks which become unreliable as the disc wears.
When the disc firmware considers information stored long term in the dodgy tracks might be unsafe then it remaps the dodgy tracks, and it even keeps a running tally of what it's done which you can see using S.M.A.R.T. software.
But the information on the dodgy tracks is still there, and still readable. These tracks will never be addressed by your off-the-shelf disc erase package but are easy meat for even an average disc drive hacker, or the FBI.

The only way to get rid of data is with a lump hammer

That's correct. There is no really reliable way to completely erase files without destroying the drive.

That would be my preferred option if, let's say, there might be something on the drive that could put me in prison.

Even if you use DoD approved over-writing software and no tracks have been remapped by the disc firmware, the mechanical tolerances on drives leave enough residual magnetic field from erased data that it can often be recovered.
But we're talking atomic force microscopes and megabucks, not Norton Undelete from Amazon. So you need to do a sort of cost-benefit analysis.

 

[Big Si]

Always found an acid bath to be the way to go.
Si

 

[Macaroon]

I have to wonder what you guys get up to on your machines!

 

[Tengu]

Righty, a lot (ie most) of that is technical, I don't understand it.

Dads laptop is malfunctioning in other areas than the dud battery; he needs a better machine.

 

[santaman2000]

That is in ordinary peoples language and even if you dont understand it you dont need to.

..just launch an app and wipe.

Ordinary language? Well, yes, I suppose it might be if you're a techno geek.

Over the years I've been a farmer, a logger, an aircraft mechanic, a pilot, a bridger (concrete bridge builder) a cop, and a corrections officer. I still have a Class B CDL, and a General Class Amateur Radio License. THOSE are ordinary.

And I have absolutely no knowledge or interest in computers beyond tuning it on and pushing the buttons.

"Launch an app and wipe?" I'll confess I do have a vague knowledge of those terms. But no idea how to do them.

 

[Bowlander]

This will be the goto thread for nonces worried about Op. Yewtree.

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[resnikov]

This will be the goto thread for nonces worried about Op. Yewtree.

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It's not just things like that, you don't want to give away your personal information, family photos and any other data.
It amazes me how people will shred old bank letters and such like and don't give a second thought to data on a hard drive. In my line of work I get given a lot of old tech that people don't won't or think isn't working.
I practise my trade on these bits of kit and the stuff you can find without trying can be eye opening.
Always erase a hard drive using DBAN or similar when giving or throwing a computer away or to make sure take the hard drive out and drill it.

Same should be said for memory cards, USB pens and smart phones. Again lots of things found on supposedly wiped devices.

 

[British Red]

Spot on Reskinov - its not about having dodgy stuff, its about preventing others from getting credit card details, address, bank passwords, paypal logon, and all the rest - its frequently left on hard drives and is recoverable by people with the right inclination and skills

Here is just one example of "reset" and "wiped" phones retaining data

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28264446

 

[Tadpole]

I thought Tengu just wanted to give the computer to her Dad, and not sell it along with all her research in to making doomsday black hole generator, to the tech savvy ebay buying international master criminal.

 

[resnikov]

I did think about building up a stock of used hard drives waiting to be erased and then put them in a clay pigeon launcher and then having some fun!

 

[Squidders]

Everyone's an expert - it's why I love threads like this.

 

[ADz-1983]

The easy to use software probably won't work. Modern ('SMART' capable) disc drives are capable of transparently remapping into use, on-the-fly, unused spare tracks which are available on the platter(s) to replace tracks which become unreliable as the disc wears.
When the disc firmware considers information stored long term in the dodgy tracks might be unsafe then it remaps the dodgy tracks, and it even keeps a running tally of what it's done which you can see using S.M.A.R.T. software.
But the information on the dodgy tracks is still there, and still readable. These tracks will never be addressed by your off-the-shelf disc erase package but are easy meat for even an average disc drive hacker, or the FBI.

Wether the drive is SMART or not is irrelevant. The disk wiping programs at boot can read/write to any sector on drive. If you overwrite each sector with random data multiple times there is NO way of recovering original data.

 

[MertzMan]

Wether the drive is SMART or not is irrelevant. The disk wiping programs at boot can read/write to any sector on drive. If you overwrite each sector with random data multiple times there is NO way of recovering original data.

Agreed. I worked as an IT tech and ran a number of recovery programs on disks that had had the full DBAN treatment. Nothing was recoverable.

 

[petrochemicals]

There are a few ways to completely wipe a drive, smashing still leavessome information there, you have to do a thorough job. Water doesn't work either. The easiest way to completely blank a drive I've heard of whilst leaving it intact is a very powerful large magnet.