Wiping HD clean for computer donation

[JohnT]

A friend of mine wants to donate her old computer to a charity. What is the best way for her to wipe her hard drive clean. I know it used to be "format c:" or something like that, but I haven't done it in so long, I forget. There might be a better way as well.

[texkam]

I've heard some security minded people suggest removing and physically destroying it letting the new owner drop in another one. Not sure if that's overkill.

[biggin]

program called killdisk does a nice job. Will not keep everybody out but will keep the majority.

And it is free...

[KenJulio]

You could 0 out the disk.

There are a number of apps and sites which will walk you through, you'll need a floppy or a bootable cd to do it.
zero out a hard drive - HTFC Forums
Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing

[JohnT]

Looks like she's going to use KillDisk. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Rson]

Just donate the computer without a HD, it is the ONLY safe method. and you still get the write off.

otherwise yes, zeroing out the drive is what you need to do. Look for DOD

Here is the wiki on wiping a drive.

Data remanence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[DoublyDan]

I use file shredder ( a zeroing out application). Its free and it has DOD shredder algorithm among others.

here

[DSL_PWR]

A combo of Dariks B&N (dban) and killdisk (use the most passes possible)..

[zebulus]

Originally Posted by ken74

You could 0 out the disk.

There are a number of apps and sites which will walk you through, you'll need a floppy or a bootable cd to do it.
zero out a hard drive - HTFC Forums
Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing

+1 for Darik's boot and Nuke. Ive used it for years.

[revjvegas]

Originally Posted by zebulus

+1 for Darik's boot and Nuke. Ive used it for years.

another +1 for B&N.
Easy and effective.

FYI to those who just don't know: NEVER just format C: if you are disposing of a PC. That is the easiest thing to recover. You want to use one of the above mentioned disk wipe utilities, or one similar, to destroy the data on that disk.

[biggin]

Forgot about B&N... another quality product.

[SpeedRacerSlots]

i use PDWIPE.
I also intentionally run it multiple times.