I have an older PC, Pentium with XP, that can't connect to the internet. I would like to give it to someone who can fix it, but am concerned about all the personnal information on it. How can I get rid of the info without costing an arm and a leg? Thanks in advance.
How old is it? If it has a regular IDE hard drive, Autoclave is free. It will run a three-pass wipe on the drive, making recovery pretty much impossible for anyone short of the NSA. Keep in mind that it will make the drive unbootable until a new operating system is installed. If you can't find AC, let me know. I should be able to make an executable that can create a bootable floppy disk.
Probably about 6 years old. Not being able to get online, is keeping me from downloading any of the online stuff. I thought about using my other computer to download something to a cd but am apprehensive about hurting my computer if I make a mistake.
Why not just remove the hard drive and let the person you're giving the computer to get a new hard drive?
I agree and using a sledge hammer on it can be quite carthetic. :mrgreen: On a related note the following story discusses how putting a hard drive in a freezer for a couple of days can enable the thing to be read. http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/garfinkel/17609/
Isn't there some sort of DOD utility that will wipe the hard drive clean? My prior employer used to lease its computers (desktops and servers) and before they were returned at EOL, the tech department was supposed to do some magic to ensure that no company data left the building.
