Donating Electronics/PC's

[Moe Ghoul]

What's the single best way to wipe out data (passwords, account numbers, etc) before donating a computer without destroying it or spending money on something that does that for you? I have an old apple I need to get rid of, and I'll eventually replace this DELL if it EVER dies on me. It's almost 10 years old and still chugging along.

 

[deadheadskier]

I would do your best going through it yourself and then donate it to a school. They'd probably wipe it out and install a new operating system anyway

 

[mondeo]

Good info here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=129

 

[Moe Ghoul]

Thanks. Doing it myself is what I plan to do, I just want to be certain that it is un? or irretrievable.

 

[Geoff]

A big electromagnet is quite effective...

 

[dmc]

Yank the hard drive and give them the PC...

 

[RootDKJ]

There's software out there that will zero out all of your data on your hard. You can usually find some freeware to suit your needs. My town offers an electronic recycling program. All I have to do is drop it off at the transfer station. They are open Tuesdays through Saturdays which make it really convenient.

 

[hiroto]

Do you still have boot disk? You can use disk utility on the boot disk to erase the disk then you can reinstall the OS clean. That's how I have done when selling my old Mac at yard sale.

 

[Moe Ghoul]

Do you still have boot disk? You can use disk utility on the boot disk to erase the disk then you can reinstall the OS clean. That's how I have done when selling my old Mac at yard sale.

Pretty sure I do, prolly up in the attic in storage. I tend to hang on to all that stuff.

Thanks again and in advance for the suggestions.

 

[BushMogulMaster]

Problem with using your original restore disks is that this will not effectively make the data irretrievable. The only way to be certain that it is wiped is to do a low level format, or a zero fill. And then, you will need to use a program specific to the manufacturer of your hard drive. You can usually download such a utility for free from the hard drive manufacturer's website, but you'll need to find out the manufacturer of your hard drive first.

Right click on My Computer, click Properties. Go into device manager, and click the "+" beside disk drives, or storage. Find your hard drive, and the manufacturer. Then look up that manufacturer online, and try to find their boot utility that includes a zero fill or low level format application. Run the app (will take awhile to complete), THEN you can use your restore disks and feel 100% secure that any and all data that EVER resided on the drive is quite GONE!

 

[BushMogulMaster]

Go here: http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/low-level-format.html

The've got links to the utilities for just about every major manufacturer.