Best way to wipe/erase hard disk before laptop donation?

[FixedGear]

Hey guys, I'm donating a laptop and want to totally wipe the hard disk first as it contains lots of personal information. Can anyone recommend easy free Windows software for doing this? Preferably something I don't have to install (simple *.exe would be best). Thanks :thumbsup:

[The_Penguin]

Dban is easy, just have to create boot media, boot it and go.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/

[taemo]

I use cccleaner and run the complex overwrite (7 passes)

[revelations]

Bleachbit

[dj_rice]

On a related note, I bought a used laptop from 780Tuners. Computers been brought back to factory specs. Anything I should do before I use it and put in personal info/banking stuff

[Mitsu3000gt]

I use DBAN as well. Painless, proven to work.

[Xtrema]

On a related note, I bought a used laptop from 780Tuners. Computers been brought back to factory specs. Anything I should do before I use it and put in personal info/banking stuff

If it comes with a Windows 7/8 key on the device, wipe the HD, download the Windows 10 media and rebuild from scratch if you worry about there factory image has spyware or something.

[ee2k]

Sledgehammer. I wouldn't donate my hard disk with traces of personal information on it. You can donate the PC and they can buy a new HDD (or if inclined buy them a new HDD and donate it.)

[RedDawn]

Hey guys, I'm donating a laptop and want to totally wipe the hard disk first as it contains lots of personal information. Can anyone recommend easy free Windows software for doing this? Preferably something I don't have to install (simple *.exe would be best). Thanks :thumbsup:

Is it a SSD or HDD?

If it's an SSD, none of the suggestions above will be effective.

[jacky4566]

Man you guys are way to paranoid.

Just wipe the drive with the above tools and call it done. If your really worried, wipe the drive then fill it with a dummy file the same size as the drive. Even if someone could recover your MBR the files containing your passwords are also encrypted again.

[A790]

Man you guys are way to paranoid.

Just wipe the drive with the above tools and call it done. If your really worried, wipe the drive then fill it with a dummy file the same size as the drive. Even if someone could recover your MBR the files containing your passwords are also encrypted again.
LOL.

Want to hear a story about a time I sold a freshly-formatted PC only to be blackmailed with what the buyer felt were incriminating photos?

Now I physically destroy the hard drive. Fuck that.

[dj_rice]

LOL.

Want to hear a story about a time I sold a freshly-formatted PC only to be blackmailed with what the buyer felt were incriminating photos?

Now I physically destroy the hard drive. Fuck that.


Do tell....

[Seth1968]

LOL.

Want to hear a story about a time I sold a freshly-formatted PC only to be blackmailed with what the buyer felt were incriminating photos?



A format doesn't erase the files, just the file's address. Any recovery program can retrieve those files as long as they haven't been overwritten.

[A790]

Do tell....
TL;DR

Sold a PC with a hard drive (formatted before sale). On the hard drive were pics of my wife and I smoking pot.

Dude e-mails me three days later with the pics, says he'll spread 'em around online unless I give him some cash.

I laughed at him. I have a prescription- do what you will. I don't care.

Also, cops. Apparently blackmail/extortion is a thing.


A format doesn't erase the files, just the file's address. Any recovery program can retrieve those files as long as they haven't been overwritten.
Yep.

You know what else erases files pretty effectively? A sledgehammer. Hard drives are cheap- why bother wasting time cleaning them out?

[Seth1968]

Yep.

You know what else erases files pretty effectively? A sledgehammer. Hard drives are cheap- why bother wasting time cleaning them out?

That's what I do. 100% effective in more ways than one :)

[suntan]

We get them shredded now.

[Doozer]

I usually wipe them before drilling a couple holes through them, then just toss in the trash. I haven't done it to an SSD yet - that might just be a sledgehammer when the time comes.

But I tend to agree with the majority sentiments above - the best way to be sure is to pull the drive & physically destroy it. Most software scrubbers are PROBABLY sufficient to deal with 90% of the buyers out there, but the question becomes - how willing are you to take your chances that your buyer is in the 90% rather than the devious 10%....

[revelations]

Lets make a few things clear:

- quick FORMAT, this is what is typically done when installing Windows as a regular format can take hours to complete. Simply wipes the root structure of the disk, but the files are still intact and can be recovered easily with a program if they are not overwritten by the Windows install

- regular FORMAT, takes several hours but data is somewhat recoverable (although will take considerably more time)

- WIPE, fills the disk with various combination of hex, letters or numbers. This is done with the intention of further obfuscating the disk logical structure. These can progress into Military-level sessions that can take days to perform randomized operations, or at the easiest level, 1s and 0s.

Personally, I've always used a regular format for most rebuilds. If I had my own personal info, definitely wipe.
Destroying a drive is for secret agents - we are sharing so much info online already that its moot what a HDD has, if its been wiped.

[UndrgroundRider]

I thought I would chime in with an additional tip on SSD's, since I think most of us are using them now. Most modern SSD's encrypt your data before storing it on physical flash memory. This is done using a symmetric encryption key generated at the factory and stored within the drive. Instead of attempting to overwrite the existing data (ie. traditional secure erase), which is less effective with modern wear-leveling technology, it's much easier to simply erase the old encryption key and generate a new one. This is achieved using the ATA Secure Erase command. After the encryption key is lost/replaced the old data is completely unrecoverable.

A Linux-live USB key is the easiest way to do this. Instructions here: https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

Many USB-live recovery/partition tools are also capable of ATA secure erase, such as PartedMagic: https://partedmagic.com/

[msommers]

Related but what is a reliable way of selling a HDD while ensuring the likelihood of someone recovering the deleted data to be pretty damn slim?

[revelations]

Wipe

[msommers]

Perfect thanks!

[taemo]

Wipe


yeah, for testing I did a 3 pass write on a HDD and I was still able to view/retrieve old files on the drive.
7 passes I wasn't able to anymore.
this way at least I know that no one can easily recover data from my HDD with free software that you can download from the internet.

[ShermanEF9]

hard drives get the ol' drill press at work, even if nothing sensitive is on them

[BokCh0y]

TL;DR

blah blah smoking a joint.

You know what else erases files pretty effectively? A sledgehammer. Hard drives are cheap- why bother wasting time cleaning them out?

This is exactly what I do - sledge hammer or I may take the time to drill a few holes into the drive platter.