Cleaning up a hard drive.

[Proto]

I've got an old PC, a Dell of some sort, which was previously used by my daughter at university. It's now attached to my Tacx Fortius turbo trainer, loaded up with the VR, Real Life Video and trainng software.

I'm now thinking of selling the turbo, complete with PC, but would like to wipe most of the hard drive first, leaving the Tacx software undisturbed.

What's the best option? Can I just delete and remove as much as can, then defrag or something? Or is there some specific hard drive cleaner I could use. PC runs XP Pro (I think) or XP Home.

Thanks in advance.

 

[lordloveaduck]

CCleaner (it's free) from 'Piriform'

http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

It can even shift stubborn files.

 

[Norm]

If you don't want to use a cleaner (and you should, they are very easy!) then fill the drive up with rubbish. Copy a big video file onto it, for instance, then make as many copies of it as it can take until there is no space left. Then delete them all and defrag the drive.

 

[Red Light]

The thing to remember is that "deleting" a file doesn't delete it. It simple notes the area is available to have new data written on it. But if no data is written over it it remains intact and readable by those that know how. Many a criminal has been caught out by that little subtlety when they were raided by police. The only way to be sure is to either erase the whole disk in a magnetic field or to write random data all over it. There are plenty of programmes around to do that either as a disk cleaner or as a secure file eraser to do files one by one. If you don't want anyone to read your data use one of those and do at least a triple pass erasure.

 

[lordloveaduck]

CCleaner overwrites the data so it can be lost forever.

 

[twowheelsgood]

DBAN boot and nuke followed by a reinstall of Windows and the application. No other way to guarantee all personal data is gone.

 

[2Loose]

If you just want to remove everything except 'stuff' and are confident that you won't leave any old\personal data on the drive then Norm's technique will be fine, or alternatively CCleaner can do this for you by wiping the free space on your drive so that nothing that was previously deleted is recoverable. http://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/using-ccleaner/wiping-free-disk-space

If you suspect that Windows is storing that old password or bit of personal info somewhere, then go for twowheelsgood suggestion. More labour intensive, but the most thorough.

 

[twowheelsgood]

That's OK if you know where and how any applications store data or temporary files. In windows Vista and windows 7 there is a clearer demarcation as to where data resides but it is no guarantee.

And of course it depends on how paranoid you are. If you have a PC from one of the big manufacturers like Dell or HP then there is usually a restore image which means a DBAN and restore isn't a big deal at all.

 

[HovR]

The only way to be sure is to either erase the whole disk in a magnetic field or to write random data all over it....

Or...

 

[Red Light]

Or...

Someone determined could still recover that. It would require specialist equipment but its doable.

 

[HovR]

Someone determined could still recover that. It would require specialist equipment but its doable.

If someone is that determined to steal my data that they'd pick hard drive fragments out of my dustbin and professionally analyze them, then I think they've earned those family photos and boring documents saved on the shards.

 

[subaqua]

If someone is that determined to steal my data that they'd pick hard drive fragments out of my dustbin and professionally analyze them, then I think they've earned those family photos and boring documents saved on the shards all that porn.

FTFY

 

[HovR]

 

[ushills]

Connect it to another PC and use a drive wiper, 3-4 passes should do it.

 

[ian turner]

If someone is that determined to steal my data that they'd pick hard drive fragments out of my dustbin and professionally analyze them, then I think they've earned those family photos and boring documents saved on the shards.

If they are that determined then they'll just tape you to a chair and pull your nails to get the information. Some drives have a sticker over a hole in the side and you fill the drive up with some suitably corrosive liquid,