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Posted by kc.corey on May 4, 2006, 6:04 pm
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I have a laptop computer that I will be selling soon. Before doing so,
I want to make sure all personal information (banking information,
passwords, work related documents) has been deleted and can't be
retrieved. Is there a software program that can accomplish this or
would it be best to replace the hard drive? Thanks for any help.
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Posted by Andrew on May 4, 2006, 6:25 pm
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kc.corey@gmail.com wrote:
: I have a laptop computer that I will be selling soon. Before doing so,
: I want to make sure all personal information (banking information,
: passwords, work related documents) has been deleted and can't be
: retrieved. Is there a software program that can accomplish this or
: would it be best to replace the hard drive? Thanks for any help.
You want to WIPE (not just format) your hard drive. WIPING it will
make it very difficult for anyone but experts with expensive equipment
to obtain your information - say the NSA. In other words, you have
nothing to worry about.
To wipe your drive (which will erase EVERYTHING on it, including
Windows), you should get a wiping utility. I recommend using one of
the ones on the Ultimate Boot CD (Google for it). This is a set of
utilities on a CD that you can boot. You can download the ISO image
of the UBCD, burn that to a blank CD, and boot it. Select the
utility (I think the one I've used was AutoEnclave). I'm not sure if
UBCD for Windows will work as well but you can try that one also.
Note that wiping your drive can take a very long time (figure
overnight at least).
After you wipe your hard drive, you will need to re-install Windows
from your original CDs, so of course you will need them!
Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
*******************************************************************
----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
*******************************************************************
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Posted by William P.N. Smith on May 5, 2006, 8:23 am
Please log in for more thread options usenetMYSHOES@bizaveMYSHOES.com (Andrew) wrote:
>the ones on the Ultimate Boot CD (Google for it). This is a set of
>utilities on a CD that you can boot. You can download the ISO image
>of the UBCD, burn that to a blank CD, and boot it. Select the
>utility (I think the one I've used was AutoEnclave).
Autoclave just puts a wrapper around the Linux "shred" command, so
boot any CD-Boot Live linux distribution and run shred. [And then
reinstall everything from scratch, or deliver the rebuild disks with
the machine when you sell it, and make the buyer understand he'll have
to rebuild it from scratch.
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Posted by Andrew on May 5, 2006, 10:46 pm
Please log in for more thread options : usenetMYSHOES@bizaveMYSHOES.com (Andrew) wrote:
: >the ones on the Ultimate Boot CD (Google for it). This is a set of
: >utilities on a CD that you can boot. You can download the ISO image
: >of the UBCD, burn that to a blank CD, and boot it. Select the
: >utility (I think the one I've used was AutoEnclave).
: Autoclave just puts a wrapper around the Linux "shred" command, so
: boot any CD-Boot Live linux distribution and run shred. [And then
: reinstall everything from scratch, or deliver the rebuild disks with
: the machine when you sell it, and make the buyer understand he'll have
: to rebuild it from scratch.
But for the average user, figuring out how to boot a Linux live CD and
run "shred" would be a lot harder than simply booting up a little
utility that would do exacly the same thing, don't you agree?
Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
*******************************************************************
----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
*******************************************************************
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Posted by William P.N. Smith on May 6, 2006, 12:58 am
Please log in for more thread options usenetMYSHOES@bizaveMYSHOES.com (Andrew) wrote:
>: usenetMYSHOES@bizaveMYSHOES.com (Andrew) wrote:
>: >the ones on the Ultimate Boot CD (Google for it). This is a set of
>: >utilities on a CD that you can boot. You can download the ISO image
>: >of the UBCD, burn that to a blank CD, and boot it. Select the
>: >utility (I think the one I've used was AutoEnclave).
>: Autoclave just puts a wrapper around the Linux "shred" command, so
>But for the average user, figuring out how to boot a Linux live CD and
>run "shred" would be a lot harder than simply booting up a little
>utility that would do exacly the same thing, don't you agree?
Oh, absolutely, I just felt really stupid about having done the UBCD
thing only to discover that several other boot disks I had around
would have done it. 8*)
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