Quickest way to wipe data? (Selling an old Netbook)

[Regulator75]

As the title says, I have an old Acer Netbook that I'm about to sell, what's the quickest and easiest way to wipe the data?
This Netbook never came with the actual Windows XP disk, so ideally I'd like to keep the OS installed.

Thoughts?

[cDnStealth]

[cDnStealth]

For a more serious answer, I would think the easiest way would be to do a full reformat.

[Raekwon]

http://www.dban.org/ download and destroy. There is also a way to get this loaded onto a USB drive.

Edit: I didn't read that you would like to keep the OS on the disk. If you had any personal information on the drive you will want to wipe it with the above method to be sure no one can recover your old data.

[photon]

Yeah without a recovery disc if you want to keep the OS you basically have to manually uninstall all the software you want, delete your user account to remove all your files, and even then I usually manually go through to make sure there's nothing left.

And then you can use something like http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/ to clean out the empty space to make sure your data can't be recovered.

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah without a recovery disc if you want to keep the OS you basically have to manually uninstall all the software you want, delete your user account to remove all your files, and even then I usually manually go through to make sure there's nothing left.

And then you can use something like http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/ to clean out the empty space to make sure your data can't be recovered.

I've been uninstalling all of my software and deleted the user account.
I'll check that link, thanks.

[ken0042]

A "poor man's" version of doing that- wipe as much as you can off the computer, then fill the hard drive with files you don't care about if they get copied. MP3s, movies, etc. Then delete those and repeat with another bunch of files. Because the hard drive will have been overwritten a couple of times, it would be hard for the buyer to find any old files on your drive.

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by ken0042

A "poor man's" version of doing that- wipe as much as you can off the computer, then fill the hard drive with files you don't care about if they get copied. MP3s, movies, etc. Then delete those and repeat with another bunch of files. Because the hard drive will have been overwritten a couple of times, it would be hard for the buyer to find any old files on your drive.

I never really had any important files on this little Netbook, I've heard of your idea before. I guess it wouldn't hurt to throw a bunch of crap on there, rinse and repeat.

[To Be Quite Honest]

HDD Low Level Format tool

[ericschand]

Four Open Source File Shredders That Delete Data Forever

There's four options for you. The above mentioned "Eraser" is in there too.

ers

[Swarly]

[Pacem]

System recovery.

f2, or f11 or some thing upon boot, maybe a combination of Ctrl + Fsomthing. Different companies use different keys. Google will tell you which key to press.

If you can't figure out what key it is to start the recovery upon boot up you should be able to start the process thru Acers pre-installed software. eRecovery or eManager IIRC. It has a green E logo.

Back to factory settings and an easy sale.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by ken0042

A "poor man's" version of doing that- wipe as much as you can off the computer, then fill the hard drive with files you don't care about if they get copied. MP3s, movies, etc. Then delete those and repeat with another bunch of files. Because the hard drive will have been overwritten a couple of times, it would be hard for the buyer to find any old files on your drive.

A friend of mine was wondering if instead of mp3's use porn, and instead of deleting the porn and selling the computer to some schlub, sell it all to him.