I am going to sell my 4-year old computer system soon. I want to make
sure that no trace of my clients past information (I'm and energy
consultant) is left behind. I have the Eraser program that is good for
eliminating "free space" (which includes old deleted files) and cluster
tips, but what parts of the W2K system itself and related programs, like
MS Office, files/folders do I have to pay attention to in order to
make sure that other privileged information is not retained o the hard
drive?

Is there a guide out there on the internet that walks through this type
of cleansing process?

From: "TMitchell" <(E-Mail Removed)>

| I am going to sell my 4-year old computer system soon. I want to make
| sure that no trace of my clients past information (I'm and energy
| consultant) is left behind. I have the Eraser program that is good for
| eliminating "free space" (which includes old deleted files) and cluster
| tips, but what parts of the W2K system itself and related programs, like
| MS Office, files/folders do I have to pay attention to in order to
| make sure that other privileged information is not retained o the hard
| drive?
|
| Is there a guide out there on the internet that walks through this type
| of cleansing process?

Use a utility like Norton's GDisk.exe to "wipe" the hard disk of all data.

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/englis...ls/DoDwipe.pdf

The utility is available in the Norton Utilities, the retail and enterprise versions of
Ghost and other Norton packages.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

Why not wipe the entire drive with something like Darik's Boot and Nuke then
reinstall the OS and sell a clean machine?
Louis

"TMitchell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:OD6Dg.7529$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I am going to sell my 4-year old computer system soon. I want to make
> sure that no trace of my clients past information (I'm and energy
> consultant) is left behind. I have the Eraser program that is good for
> eliminating "free space" (which includes old deleted files) and cluster
> tips, but what parts of the W2K system itself and related programs, like
> MS Office, files/folders do I have to pay attention to in order to
> make sure that other privileged information is not retained o the hard
> drive?
>
> Is there a guide out there on the internet that walks through this type
> of cleansing process?

TMitchell wrote:

> I am going to sell my 4-year old computer system soon. I want to make
> sure that no trace of my clients past information (I'm and energy
> consultant) is left behind. I have the Eraser program that is good for
> eliminating "free space" (which includes old deleted files) and cluster
> tips, but what parts of the W2K system itself and related programs, like
> MS Office, files/folders do I have to pay attention to in order to make
> sure that other privileged information is not retained o the hard drive?
>
> Is there a guide out there on the internet that walks through this type
> of cleansing process?

How about simply re-installing Windows, using the 'formatting disk'
option when prompted.

Hi,

......How about simply re-installing Windows, using the 'formatting disk'
option when prompted.

Formaatting a disk doesn't erase or even overwrite old data that's been
on a disk. Many free softwares out there will easily bring all those
files back to life, even after a format. Overwriting the drive first is
the least you should consider doing. One of the easier ways to do that
is many copies of a giant file copied to your drive until you fill it
up. That way when a software is used to show your old or previously
deleted files it'll just bring up the trash you've devloped as fill, bmp
files work well for the purpose. Purchasing a disk cleansing software is
also an option of course.

Slapping the drive in another machine as a slave for the overwrite and
reformatting makes the whole drive available for trashing all the old
info from it.

---==X={}=X==---

Jim Self

AVIATION ANIMATION, the internet's largest depository.
http://avanimation.avsupport.com

Your only internet source for spiral staircase plans.
http://jself.com/stair/Stair.htm

Experimental Aircraft Association #140897
EAA Technical Counselor #4562

PA20Pilot wrote:


> Formaatting a disk doesn't erase or even overwrite old data that's been
> on a disk. Many free softwares out there will easily bring all those
> files back to life, even after a format. Overwriting the drive first is
> the least you should consider doing. One of the easier ways to do that
> is many copies of a giant file copied to your drive until you fill it
> up.

Surely a low-level format (not a regular post-partitioning format)using
the hd manufacturer's disk utilities effectively overwrites any data
that's there? And it would be a lot easier.

Sid Knee wrote:
> PA20Pilot wrote:
>
>
> > Formaatting a disk doesn't erase or even overwrite old data that's been
> > on a disk. Many free softwares out there will easily bring all those
> > files back to life, even after a format. Overwriting the drive first is
> > the least you should consider doing. One of the easier ways to do that
> > is many copies of a giant file copied to your drive until you fill it
> > up.
>
> Surely a low-level format (not a regular post-partitioning format)using
> the hd manufacturer's disk utilities effectively overwrites any data
> that's there? And it would be a lot easier.

I have used Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) freeware from SourceForge. It
suppossedly erases the disk to DOD standards by writing random 1's and
0's to the entire disk several times. I have not run any recovery
software to test it.

Warning secure this floopy. If it is inadvertently inserted into the
floppy drive and the machine reboots your disk is nuked.

"Darik's Boot and Nuke http://dban.sourceforge.net/
DBAN is a self-contained boot floppy that securely wipes the hard disks
of most computers. DBAN is open source and will work on DOS, Windows
3.1, Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, or Linux,
and also meets the DoD cleaning and sanitizing standard."





Sid Knee wrote:
> PA20Pilot wrote:
>
>
> > Formaatting a disk doesn't erase or even overwrite old data that's been
> > on a disk. Many free softwares out there will easily bring all those
> > files back to life, even after a format. Overwriting the drive first is
> > the least you should consider doing. One of the easier ways to do that
> > is many copies of a giant file copied to your drive until you fill it
> > up.
>
> Surely a low-level format (not a regular post-partitioning format)using
> the hd manufacturer's disk utilities effectively overwrites any data
> that's there? And it would be a lot easier.

Hi Sid Knee,

.........Surely a low-level format (not a regular post-partitioning
format)using the hd manufacturer's disk utilities effectively overwrites
any data that's there?

I wouldn't assume that. All a format is doing is dividing the disk into
sections that can be written to and telling the software it's no longer
used space to work around, not scrambling the magnetic information
that's already there. It's kind of like removing the lable from a video
tape and closing the recording protection hole, the movie is still
there, but it's now available to write over.


---==X={}=X==---

Jim Self

AVIATION ANIMATION, the internet's largest depository.
http://avanimation.avsupport.com

Your only internet source for spiral staircase plans.
http://jself.com/stair/Stair.htm

Experimental Aircraft Association #140897
EAA Technical Counselor #4562

PA20Pilot wrote:
> Hi Sid Knee,
>
> ........Surely a low-level format (not a regular post-partitioning
> format)using the hd manufacturer's disk utilities effectively overwrites
> any data that's there?
>
> I wouldn't assume that. All a format is doing is dividing the disk into
> sections that can be written to and telling the software it's no longer
> used space to work around, not scrambling the magnetic information
> that's already there.

I think you are describing a regular format there, Jim, not a low level
format. The manufacturer's low level format utility works at a lower
level and (I believe) leaves the the disk surface in the state it was in
when it left the factory ... fully erased and unpartitioned.

It certainly takes a very long time to do it.