How to wipe a desktop clean

HankMarducas

Honorable
Apr 4, 2012
10
0
10,560
I recently got my parents a new laptop and want to get rid of their old desktop. It has windows XP on it. I want to erase everything and anything on it so it is safe to donate to a recycle center. What program should I use?

Thank you
 
Solution
Download and create Hirem's Boot CD.
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

Boot off the CD and select one of the disk tools which allows secure erase, like DiskWipe or Active Kill Disk. Use it to secure erase the drive (fill it completely with zeros or random data).

A regular delete or format just changes one byte at the beginning telling the OS that this file/partition is erased. You can get the data back by changing this one byte back. A secure erase overwrites all the data, making it unrecoverable unless you use military-grade recovery techniques (i.e. taking the drive apart, reading it for trace magnetic signals).
Download and create Hirem's Boot CD.
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

Boot off the CD and select one of the disk tools which allows secure erase, like DiskWipe or Active Kill Disk. Use it to secure erase the drive (fill it completely with zeros or random data).

A regular delete or format just changes one byte at the beginning telling the OS that this file/partition is erased. You can get the data back by changing this one byte back. A secure erase overwrites all the data, making it unrecoverable unless you use military-grade recovery techniques (i.e. taking the drive apart, reading it for trace magnetic signals).
 
Solution

HankMarducas

Honorable
Apr 4, 2012
10
0
10,560


Thank you. Exactly what I was looking for