Erase all files

[Guest]

I want to erase all of the files on my computer before I donate - how do I
easily do this

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

DriveScrubber
http://www.iolo.com/ds/index.cfm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

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:

| I want to erase all of the files on my computer before I donate - how do I
| easily do this

 

[John John]

This is free a effective. There is no need to pay for this type of
utility. Just make a boot diskette, or cd if you have no diskette
drive, boot the computer with it and wipe the drive. It takes time, the
utility has to write zeros all over the drive, it will take many hours.
http://dban.sourceforge.net/

John

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I want to erase all of the files on my computer before I donate - how do I
easily do this

To protect your personal information and data from any future users
of average skills, you should, at the very least, format the hard drive
and reinstall only the OS and those applications whose licenses are to
be included in the sale/transfer. If you wish to do a more thorough job
of protecting your personal data, WipeDrive 2.2.1
(http://www.accessdata.com/Product07_Overview.htm?ProductNum=07) meets
U.S. DoD standards for securely cleaning surplus unclassified hard
drives, and could be used before formatting and reinstalling the OS and
applications.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Rock]

To protect your personal information and data from any future users of
average skills, you should, at the very least, format the hard drive and
reinstall only the OS and those applications whose licenses are to be
included in the sale/transfer. If you wish to do a more thorough job of
protecting your personal data, WipeDrive 2.2.1
(http://www.accessdata.com/Product07_Overview.htm?ProductNum=07) meets
U.S. DoD standards for securely cleaning surplus unclassified hard drives,
and could be used before formatting and reinstalling the OS and
applications.

<snip>

Bruce, FYI that link comes up as Page not found. I went to accessdata.com
and there was no listing for WipeDrive 2.2.. Google comes up with WipeDrive
3.0 from White Canyon software:
http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive.php?gclid=CL7X_7fdl4kCFQi8YAodR3QXPA

 

[Bruce Chambers]

<snip>

Bruce, FYI that link comes up as Page not found. I went to
accessdata.com and there was no listing for WipeDrive 2.2.. Google
comes up with WipeDrive 3.0 from White Canyon software:
http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive.php?gclid=CL7X_7fdl4kCFQi8YAodR3QXPA

Thanks for the update. I'll do my best to remember to use the new link
the next time the question arises.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Rock]

Thanks for the update. I'll do my best to remember to use the new link
the next time the question arises.

<snip>

No problem.

 

[Rock]

Thank you for your assistance my basic problem is that I cannot find the
instructions on how to format the drive in XP - my recollection is there
was
a simple command in previos OS versions but I have come up empty in
trying
to find how to do this - I don't have any boot discs The computer has a
problem in going into power save mode and locking up so I am unable to
remove
files one at a time and am hoping I can find something relativeliy quick
that
I will be able to accomplish - I really don't have very much to erase but
I
don't want to send out old financial files - I may have to just remove the
hard drive and recycle the computer

You can't format the drive from within XP. It can be done by booting from a
win98 boot disk and running fdisk (www.bootdisk.com) or from the XP
installation CD, entering the recovery console and running diskpart from the
command line. To see the options for the diskpart command type diskpart /?
from a command prompt or see this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/.../xp/all/proddocs/en-us/diskpart.mspx?mfr=true

Or bypass the recovery console, enter the setup program, and delete the
current partitions, then exit set up.

Info on using the recovery console
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us