Want to clear EVERYTHING off my laptop so i can sell it - Computer Technical Help

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Want to clear EVERYTHING off my laptop so i can sell it

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04-02-2009 , 09:24 PM

sublime

Mr. Roper

Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 22,519

hey guys,

want to sell my laptop but being a poker player i have all kinds of programs and such on it and that probably poses some sort of security risk when i resell it. is there a way to erase ALL history of me on the hard drive? am i being paranoid and will just removing all programs be enough?

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04-02-2009 , 10:10 PM

Freakin

bacon wannabe

Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 17,153

you're not being paranoid

at a minimum, you need to wipe the harddrive with a multipass erasing program then reinstall windows.

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04-03-2009 , 01:54 AM

sublime

Mr. Roper

Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 22,519

cool, ty.

using killdisk right now, ty for heads up.

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04-03-2009 , 03:10 AM

sublime

Mr. Roper

Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 22,519

btw, i nuked EVERYTHING on the hard drive(dellutility/recovery/os c/ etc), i assume this was the correct way to go about this?

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04-03-2009 , 07:32 AM

kerowo

lolcat

Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 37,190

As long as you can reinstall the OS that's fine.

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04-03-2009 , 11:57 AM

funkyworms

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,250

The free version of killdisk just erases with zeros in a single pass. That's probably good enough to keep yourself secure from most people.

If you're super paranoid you can use DBAN for a multi-pass with a random number generator [1s and 0s].

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04-03-2009 , 06:50 PM

rugmuncher

old hand

Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 1,732

and then if u want to be really sure, use a prog like http://www.recovermyfiles.com/

to make sure it all worked

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04-03-2009 , 07:24 PM

KittyLiquor

old hand

Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 1,524

and then if u want to be really, really sure, use a hammer.

Prolly hurt the resale value tho.

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04-03-2009 , 08:42 PM

sublime

Mr. Roper

Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 22,519

Quote:

Originally Posted by funkyworms

i used the pay version to be safe.

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04-03-2009 , 10:54 PM

#10

captZEEbo

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 9,991

I would not have nuked the second partition if there was one. The partition where it comes with d:/recovery where you can reinstall windows from the hd. Other than that, yeah, nuke it all. Not a big deal if you did nuke that partition though.

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04-04-2009 , 01:43 AM

#11

tabako

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 5,086

How would wiping everything out with zeroes have the possibility of still allowing file recovery?

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04-04-2009 , 01:59 AM

#12

Freakin

bacon wannabe

Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 17,153

Quote:

Originally Posted by tabako

How would wiping everything out with zeroes have the possibility of still allowing file recovery?

desktop software probably could never get it, but a clean room w/ the proper equipment could.

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