Cleaning all history from a computer...

generator12

Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Jul 9, 2010
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I've got two old computers - a laptop and a desktop - that I want to donate to a charitable organization. The problem is that each has been used by several teenage grandsons for quite some time, and there's no telling what the browsing record would look like. (And, frankly, I don't want to know...!) In addition, each had been used for banking purposes and for on-line purchases before the young cossacks got to use them. So I'm looking for information regarding stripping them completely of all information regarding such interactions before I let go of them.

One runs Windows ME; the other Vista.

Any advice from the computer gurus here?

Thanks guys.
 

henleyhale

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Oct 5, 2013
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If you've got the software make a boot disk for them and format the drives then reinstall, that's the only way I'd donate my electronicz. The new ones without software go to the recyclers
 

MTboatguy

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First of all, I would get rid of ME and Vista, bad versions of Windows and pick up a copy of a newer version, you need to go to the root, wipe everything out and start over if you want to be safe and clean, there are programs out there that will do this, but you need to have a new install disc to install a new version of windows.
 

NYBo

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Formatting the drives will NOT make your data unrecoverable. There are number of programs, some free, that will securely wipe the disks.
 

MTboatguy

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No Formatting will not get rid of stuff, they need to be taken back down to the raw level and then brought back up, I use AOMEI partition assistant to take my drives down then partition and format to get rid of everything and start over, there is a free version that works to do this.
 

bruceb58

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There are free programs that will double and triple write to every location on the disk. You will have to boot from an external device to do it.
 

MTboatguy

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The AOMEI program I use, will allow you to make a bootable flashdrive and it allow low level rewrites and actually all kinds of stuff to be done and I use their free for personal use version.
 

thumpar

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Jun 21, 2007
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I use DBAN. It is free and will make a cd for you to run. You would be surprised what can be recovered after a format or just reload from disk without wiping first.
 

roscoe

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If you've got the software make a boot disk for them and format the drives then reinstall, that's the only way I'd donate my electronicz. The new ones without software go to the recyclers



Why are you getting rid of new electronics?

Why would you recycle them if they are new?
Someone could use them.
 

nola mike

Vice Admiral
Joined
Apr 22, 2009
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5,023
I second DBAN. It takes a long time, because it physically writes over the whole drive. Unless you're NSA, pretty much unrecoverable. Depending on your paranoia level, second option is remove the hard drives and take a hammer to them.
 

boatman37

Lieutenant
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May 14, 2015
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DBAN or Active Killdisk will forensically wipe a drive. i have a degree in computer forensics and recovering deleted files is very simple with the right software
 

MH Hawker

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Take the drives out, lay them on a flat rock and take a 3 pound hammer to them
 

MTboatguy

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Take the drives out, lay them on a flat rock and take a 3 pound hammer to them

With all the new tech, sometimes that does not even wipe them out! I have seen recovery systems when I was in the Military, that they would take the damaged drive apart and put the platters into a new housing and read enough off of them to be productive.
 

generator12

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Messages
666
OP here. Well I thank everyone for the answers. I guess the answer for absolute protection is to melt it down in a furnace, stir it into a slurry, and mix in a gallon of sand. No matter. You have enabled me to get the picture! I'll take appropriate steps.

Again, thanks for the time/attention. Great group here.
 

MTboatguy

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Generator, in the real world normal usage of a computer, I really don't think it is that big of deal.. LOL
 

boatman37

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what was mentioned earlier was a method that has been used in the military to read wiped drives. a 'track' on a platter isn't in a perfect circle so when the drive is wiped the write head may miss some of the track. it is possible to read a few bits here and there and you may get lucky and have enough to figure out what a file or image is. very low success rate with that. the DOD (department of defense) standard is a 7 pass wipe if i remember correctly.
 
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