Recycling old pc, erasing hard drive

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Cutehumor

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I've decided I need to get rid of these old pcs I have. I got rid of a Pentium 1 pc a few months ago that I used for 3 years back in the mid 90s. I recycled it at the city recycling dump. First computer I ever had for college. It had 1 GB hard drive and I didn't wipe the hard drive which I regret. I deleted files which was not much on there. I'm sure there was no personal data on there. I couldn't surf the net with that slow 28.8k modem.

Now, I'm getting rid of a Pentium 2 333mhz laptop pc. I'm using Darik's boot and nuke software. Is this the best I can do here? one software good enough? Is it comparable to Eraser? or should I run both?
 
after DBAN the average user will not be able to "recover" information so i think anymore will be useless. unless your super paranoid you can always put it in the microwave.
LOL.gif


although it wouldn't really hurt if you did..better safe than sorry
 
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I find the most secure method is one practiced by MI-6. They grind the hard drives to dust and store the dust in boxes in the basement.
 
I wouldn't worry about it if you used Boot and Nuke. With it you have overwritten the data over the entire surface of the drive rendering the data that once was there into a random assortment of unreadable garbage. If anyone actually wanted the data from the computer, they would find it from a computer that didn't have the data erased. Most people who are looking for something will find it from the easiest place they can find it. With todays computers, people would probably not even bother looking at the hard drive of a Pentium 1 with a 1 gig hard drive. If it's been a few months and nothing has happened, I'd figure you are probably safe.
 
I typically just put the hard drive in my drill press with a 3/8" bit or give it a little side to side action with my 40amp plasma cutter. No issues so far from using either one of these tactics. Yes I really do these things...
13.gif
 
Thanks for the tips. I'm just paranoid because about a year ago, laptops were stolen from the Nashville Voting registar office containing social security numbers. Now I have debix fraud protection service. Two months after that happened, I got a letter from lifeblood saying that in Memphis, their laptop was stolen with social security numbers too. They put in their letter that I need to get a fraud protection to prevent identity theft.
mad.gif
 
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Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Take the drive out and smash it with a sledgehammer. If it were me, I'd take it to the shooting range!


You can still extract the data unless you demagnetize or melt the platter.

Write zero to all drive (i.e. Boot and Nuke) will be enough for civilian data.
 
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