Selling PC, want to wipe drive.

MisplacedKYGirl · 09-25-2008, 08:13 PM

This may be the wrong forum - - if so, can you please direct me to the correct one?

I want to sell a 3 year old laptop just replaced with a shiny new one; however, there's lots of personal info on it - - bank numbers, credit card numbers, etc. My son in KY said to 'wipe the drive' first; however, couldn't give instructions on how or with what.

Googled that and read about several software programs and checked out one called DBan. Does anyone here know if that's advisable or even necessary? If so, will it be possible to use the factory restore CD that came with the computer to set it back up after using DBan or whatever you advise (Dban is free)?

Thanks a million!

**koala** · 09-26-2008, 03:46 AM

DBAN (Darik's Boot And Nuke) is one of the most commonly used hard drive wipers. You just burn the program to floppy, CD or USB stick then reboot to the device instead of Windows to run the program.

It will be up to the new owner to install Windows, so you don't need to worry about trying to get the factory restore CD to work.

09-25-2008, 08:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
MisplacedKYGirl Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Kentucky Posts: 18 OS: Vista Home Premium SP1	Selling PC, want to wipe drive. This may be the wrong forum - - if so, can you please direct me to the correct one? I want to sell a 3 year old laptop just replaced with a shiny new one; however, there's lots of personal info on it - - bank numbers, credit card numbers, etc. My son in KY said to 'wipe the drive' first; however, couldn't give instructions on how or with what. Googled that and read about several software programs and checked out one called DBan. Does anyone here know if that's advisable or even necessary? If so, will it be possible to use the factory restore CD that came with the computer to set it back up after using DBan or whatever you advise (Dban is free)? Thanks a million!

09-26-2008, 03:46 AM	#2 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 11,218 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Selling PC, want to wipe drive. DBAN (Darik's Boot And Nuke) is one of the most commonly used hard drive wipers. You just burn the program to floppy, CD or USB stick then reboot to the device instead of Windows to run the program. It will be up to the new owner to install Windows, so you don't need to worry about trying to get the factory restore CD to work. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here