HP Recovery Manager - Private Data Concern

marlowe.ga · 06-04-2008, 02:30 PM

Hello all.

I just bought a laptop, with which I am very happy. I am also selling my desktop, as I have no use for the two of them. The desktop is an HP running Vista, and I have just finished running HP's included Recovery Manager ("Recover Factory Settings"). My question to you is this: Do I need to worry about personal data being recovered via DOS? I don't have much expertise, but I'm aware that people with more experience than myself can recover files that have been deleted through explorer, something about the data not actually being destroyed. The computer in question was no treasure trove of data on a fixed election, but I used it for my banking and there were a few .avi's that one doesn't discuss in polite conversation.

Does anyone have experience with HP, or other manufacturers' recovery programs? Do I need to find a utility to wipe the drive entirely? Thanks in advance.

P.S.
I did search for this answer, and found woefully little information on it.

**Dunedin** · 06-04-2008, 03:46 PM

Hello marlowe.ga

You can totally wipe the drive with a program such as Eraser

This will make all your data unrecoverable

.

marlowe.ga · 06-04-2008, 07:28 PM

Thanks for your quick reply. I'm aware of programs like that, but will they also delete Vista? I need to sell this computer, which is easier with Windows already installed. The system restore information is on its own partition, on the internal. Could I run a program like that, without losing Vista? Would it be necessary, given that HP's Recovery Manager has already been at it?

**Dunedin** · 06-05-2008, 04:46 AM

I did not realise you wanted to keep Vista.
Eraser will delete everything including Vista.
If HP's Recovery Manager is on a partition (not on a DVD) it might wipe it too.

There is no way you can totally delete your old data now that you have reinstalled Vista. Some or all of it may now be overwritten, but there is no way of telling.

So it is possible that someone might be able to recover your files if they knew what to do.

06-04-2008, 02:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
marlowe.ga Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Windows Vista	HP Recovery Manager - Private Data Concern Hello all. I just bought a laptop, with which I am very happy. I am also selling my desktop, as I have no use for the two of them. The desktop is an HP running Vista, and I have just finished running HP's included Recovery Manager ("Recover Factory Settings"). My question to you is this: Do I need to worry about personal data being recovered via DOS? I don't have much expertise, but I'm aware that people with more experience than myself can recover files that have been deleted through explorer, something about the data not actually being destroyed. The computer in question was no treasure trove of data on a fixed election, but I used it for my banking and there were a few .avi's that one doesn't discuss in polite conversation. Does anyone have experience with HP, or other manufacturers' recovery programs? Do I need to find a utility to wipe the drive entirely? Thanks in advance. P.S. I did search for this answer, and found woefully little information on it.

06-04-2008, 03:46 PM	#2 (permalink)
Dunedin Mentor Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Over the Forth from Edinburgh, Scotland Posts: 3,571 OS: WinXP Pro/Windows7 RTM Ultimate	Re: HP Recovery Manager - Private Data Concern Hello marlowe.ga You can totally wipe the drive with a program such as Eraser This will make all your data unrecoverable . __________________

06-04-2008, 07:28 PM	#3 (permalink)
marlowe.ga Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 2 OS: Windows Vista	Re: HP Recovery Manager - Private Data Concern Thanks for your quick reply. I'm aware of programs like that, but will they also delete Vista? I need to sell this computer, which is easier with Windows already installed. The system restore information is on its own partition, on the internal. Could I run a program like that, without losing Vista? Would it be necessary, given that HP's Recovery Manager has already been at it?

06-05-2008, 04:46 AM	#4 (permalink)
Dunedin Mentor Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Over the Forth from Edinburgh, Scotland Posts: 3,571 OS: WinXP Pro/Windows7 RTM Ultimate	Re: HP Recovery Manager - Private Data Concern I did not realise you wanted to keep Vista. Eraser will delete everything including Vista. If HP's Recovery Manager is on a partition (not on a DVD) it might wipe it too. There is no way you can totally delete your old data now that you have reinstalled Vista. Some or all of it may now be overwritten, but there is no way of telling. So it is possible that someone might be able to recover your files if they knew what to do. __________________