I bought a new tower and am giving my old tower - still working, no problems with it - to a friend.

Is there any way to wipe my work from my computer and still leave the OP system intact?

I have certainly erased everything but don't know how to permanently delete it so no one can access my financial info, etc.

At one time I wiped an entire hard drive using a military program (don't recall the name) but it wiped everything.

I believe I have the original disks and could reprogram if I had to but I'm rather "how a computer works" illiterate. (Just a warning!)

Is there any way to wipe my work from my computer and still leave the OP system intact?

Yes, but the utilities available to do so (e.g. Active@ ERASER (http://www.active-eraser.com/)) usually require installation prior to deletion. Since you've deleted everything already, you'd have to, in theory, undelete everything, install a secure deletion tool and then re-delete everything securely. Another, perhaps simpler, option is to fill up all the remaining free space on your drive with large files so that all of the now "free" space previously occupied by your data gets overwritten at least once, significantly reducing the likelihood of your data ever being recovered.

A major pitfall of the file based approach above is that you have to manually find every last vestige of your data and delete it. Today's applications leave pieces of data scattered all over the place. If you have the original operating system discs and your friend doesn't mind reinstalling, the link above, CMRR Secure Erase (http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml), or Darik's Boot And Nuke (http://www.dban.org/) will erase the entire drive. This is the most secure method other than physically shredding the drive.

I bought a new tower and am giving my old tower - still working, no problems with it - to a friend.

Is there any way to wipe my work from my computer and still leave the OP system intact?

I have certainly erased everything but don't know how to permanently delete it so no one can access my financial info, etc.

At one time I wiped an entire hard drive using a military program (don't recall the name) but it wiped everything.

I believe I have the original disks and could reprogram if I had to but I'm rather "how a computer works" illiterate. (Just a warning!)
Yeah you don't need to do any of the junk the guy above says. Just reformat the drive and reinstall Windows (restart the machine with the Windows CD in the drive, hit F12 and select "Boot from onboard CD-ROM). The installation is intuitive, so even someone with no experience should be able to handle it.

Of course, if you don't have an install CD you're kinda screwed. And if you really want to be safe, you should zero-write (literally writes a bunch of "0's" to your hard drive) then install the OS on top of that.

Yes, but the utilities available to do so (e.g., Active@ ERASER (http://www.active-eraser.com/)) usually require installation prior to deletion. Since you've deleted everything already, you'd have to, in theory, undelete everything, install a secure deletion tool and then re-delete everything securely. Another, perhaps simpler, option is to fill up all the remaining free space on your drive with large files so that all of the now "free" space previously occupied by your data gets overwritten at least once, significantly reducing the likelihood of your data ever being recovered.

A major pitfall of the file based approach above is that you have to manually find every last vestige of your data and delete it. Today's applications leave pieces of data scattered all over the place. If you have the original operating system discs and your friend doesn't mind reinstalling, the link above, CMRR Secure Erase (http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml), or Darik's Boot And Nuke (http://www.dban.org/) will erase the entire drive. This is the most secure method other than physically shredding the drive.



My hard drive contains a lot of legal work and research (including names and addresses) which absolutely cannot get into anyone else's hands so to be extra sure I have a "computer person" coming to the house with some sort of Government-approved total wipe disk. She said it will take hours and then she will re-install the operating system. If she told me the name of the program, I don't remember.

She agreed with you - I need to be 100% sure the drive is wiped.

My hard drive contains a lot of legal work and research (including names and addresses) which absolutely cannot get into anyone else's hands so to be extra sure I have a "computer person" coming to the house with some sort of Government-approved total wipe disk. She said it will take hours and then she will re-install the operating system. If she told me the name of the program, I don't remember.

She agreed with you - I need to be 100% sure the drive is wiped.
If it's that sensitive, save what you need to and then destroy the disk with a degausser or a sledgehammer. Hard disks are dirt cheap so the guy you're giving the PC to can get his own. I bought a SATAII 500GB drive with an external enclosure for $80. So 250GB, which is more than enough, will run you about $30.

This is what we use here in my government: About DBAN | Darik's Boot And Nuke (http://www.dban.org/about)

It does the DOD wipe.

If it's that sensitive, save what you need to and then destroy the disk with a degausser or a sledgehammer. Hard disks are dirt cheap so the guy you're giving the PC to can get his own. I bought a SATAII 500GB drive with an external enclosure for $80. So 250GB, which is more than enough, will run you about $30.



Unfortunately my friend cannot at this moment afford to buy/pay for much of anything. That's why I'm giving her the tower. She no longer even has internet access and needs to use my computer for her job search.

I just don't think I'm doing her a favor if I give her the tower and then expect her to buy a drive and format it. I'd rather pay a few dollars, get it wiped and hand it to her up and ready to go.

As mentioned above, DBAN will take care of wiping drive

Judy, all you needed was a washcloth, a bar of soap and lots of water to "clean" your hard drive... or... use a wipe program.

Just wondering. How is your friend going to do a job search with no internet access? Did I miss something here?

There is no such thing as Erasing the HD by Formatting as all that Data can still be retrieved with Software. The only way to guarantee all data has been erased from a HD is to overwrite all the free sectors on the disk with artificial information, such as 1's and 0's, this then replaces the data that was previously there.

But there is a software program that can do that for you, it's what's used by Law Enforcement the world over:


http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive.php

It will allow you to Wipe your whole HD or pick what to wipe.

Judy, all you needed was a washcloth, a bar of soap and lots of water to "clean" your hard drive...... or.... use a wipe program.

Just wondering. How is your friend going to do a job search with no internet access? Did I miss something here?



She uses my computer and my access in my office (she actually works for me part-time and her other part-time job dried up); this computer will be used to prepare resumes, whatever else she uses a computer for.

That's what I meant when I said she uses my computer for her job search(es).

Oh, I sort of figured something like that. You are a good lady, Judy, to allow her to do this.

Oh, I sort of figured something like that. You are a good lady, Judy, to allow her to do this.



Thanks - she's a really good person, just having a rough time right now.

Use Active Killdisk and wipe the entire Disk, then re-install the Operating system...

Post back to let us know what worked out for you. Right now, still looks like open question