LEAVING NO TRACKS ON COMPUTER

My sugestion for you is to download a freeware program
called "Eraser Version 5.7". It will allow you to make
a Boot Disk on either a floppy or CD. Just put the
disk in the appropiate drive, reboot the computer,
then it will ask you how deep you want to erase, from
psudorandom data, all the way to gutmann standards.
I have used it many times and have never had a problem.
Good Luck and God Speed.

Try System Mechanic. It cover's up your tracks like the government uses. gingernga

I have used CyberScrub www.cyberscrub.com successfully for many years. During that time I have given away several systems and many small hard disks as I updated to much larger capacity models. I still have contact with the people who inherited this stuff. None of them have ever found anything of mine on the wiped drives.
CyberScrub has other features including cleaning up after online activities and an abily to create a hidden password protected "safe" on your drive. I also use CCleaner better known as Crap Cleaner www.ccleaner.com. One thing I used to love when I owned Gateway pcs, their system disks came with a facility to write zeros to your drives. I understand that this process ensures that even security services are unable to recover data.
You do have consider the question, do I have really data important enough to warrent paying lots of money for high level wipe systems. Most people I have spoken to have nothing that important installed.

hitbit
Do Remember, that just because you're not paranoid does'nt mean their not out to get you.

Thi does a good job for me. WhiteCanyon,Inc.

Don't take a chance! I found personal data from a psychiatric office on a recycled PC!
All files and personal info intact! They had made no effort to encrypt or erase the drive before disposal.
Don't depend on Resellers to do this for you, even if they say they will!
I always keep my original HD and install another salvaged HD that is first zeroed and then formatted.I then install an earlier OS to make it functional.
The trend to very large internal HDs is a mistake.
It is safer to use a small internal drive,large enough to handle the OS and software.Store all data on a external drive.It remains available when you upgrade.

Find a file whose information you do not care about and which is larger than the file you wish to "erase", and copy it to the file name of the file you want ereased. Then change to file name to some gibberish. Of course, an easier way is to purchase any of the wipe file applications. If you have ANY thing on the disk that just can't be risked, wait for cold weather, start a fire in your fire place, and put the disk in it, but don't give it to anybody, even a charity.

Remove the old HD and install a new one. Only way to be 100% sure.

you could say buy a very inexpensive drive for it. pull out the old one and if possible. put it into the new pc. drastic as it sounds it is the only foolproof way to safeguard info

1) Open the hard drive case. Remove the platters. Use a grinding wheel to remove the magnetic material coating on the platters (both sides).

2) Melt the magnetic material coating off the platters with an oxyacetylene torch.

Otherwise, certain government agencies with 3 letter abbreviations have electron microscopes (MFM's) that can recover just about any data unless one of these two methods are employed.

Or, if you live in NYC, say, you could just take a drive to Jersey and when you're going over the GW bridge, toss it into the Hudson River. Just make sure it doent land on a boat.

I donated 25 PCs to a local charity. I simply removed all hard drives, and purchased new ones. (The cheapest, and smallest I could find.)

I did not put them in the PC cases. I just handed them the computers, and 25 hard drives still in the retail boxes.

Their tech guy was actually VERY happy to receive them that way.

Just a thought.

one can try zero fill on the hard disk that will clear all the old data on the hard disk drive. disk manager is the software used to do that.
mandeep