A question for you computer gurus......

I have 2 Compaq older computers. A desktop and a laptop. I wish to donate them to any charity or association that will rebuild and use them for "whatever".....teaching, parts, resale, etc.

How do I assure that any information that is on the hard drive is not accessable?? I read that a simple deletion is not enough. And, the job that much of the dedicated cheapy software does, is not thorough enough and can be defeated also.

Any suggestions......other than breaking up into pieces and discarding them.

I'm a little hesitant about this because of a previous problem, when I had guys in dark suits and sunglasses knock on my door.

 

http://dban.sourceforge.net/ Darik's Boot and Nuke. this is to wipe everything clean but I'm not a computer gurus or geek, I'm sure someone else has heard of this NUKE program

 

Basic replacement hard drives are very inexpensive. You could always remove your hard drive and replace it with a new one (you can find drives at computer swap meets, Comp USA, places like that for $29-$50). This way, you're sure that your data isn't going anywhere it shouldn't.

 

Quick Google search brought this result:
http://www.thefreecountry.com/securi...redelete.shtml

 

This is sort of related: The best way to permanently destroy a hard drive is to put it in a microwave. You're supposed to wrap it in something to prevent sparking I think, but I forgot what it is. About 15 seconds will do it. Seriously.
If you throw it in a fire or smash it or something, some of the data can still be retrieved, depending on how motivated the person trying to get the data is. Pretty unlikely though, unless you have sensitive data that someone knows about.

My memory is evading me as to which program my hardware teacher recommended for wiping a hard drive. Try and find one that actually writes to the hard drive though. It should take a while. If it only takes a second, then it probably only erased the master boot record.

 

At work we wipe the drive (zero it) then take a ball peen hammer to hit. Seriously.

 

Snoopy
If you want to donate to a high school some of the teachers go thru and make sure there is no data left, or just remove the hard drive and donate that way. I know Red Mt. uses them as teaching tools in computer classes as to how and rebuild them things like that. You can always check with a local HS and see what they do to make sure everything is safe.

 

I just received an e-mail suggesting removing the hard drive and expose it to a VERY STRONG industrial magnet. Thoughts....????

 

your best bet is to remove it and replace it..... there are programs that will retreve it even after reformatting and I hear after magnets, I agree the best way is the sledge hammer way..

 

Just format the hard drive with a win98 boot disk. This pretty much makes all your data toast. The average computer theft is after the big companies for info. that they can use and undoing an average home PC isn't worth there time. I've been doing this over 25yrs. and no ones data has come back yet. If you need a boot disk to do this let me know.