Selling Full PC (inc HDD)...how to protect from Fraud??

[ademcg]

Ok,
so I am selling my old rig as a working concern, however I am going to format the HDD before I ship it off to someone new.

My main worry is that there may be someone out there who could restore / retrieve some of my info....what should I do ?

 

[semi-pro waster]

Use a program like DBAN, you can set it to do any number of wipes of the hard drive, beyond about 7 it gets a bit academic as there are very few people with the time, ability or energy to devote to retrieving the wiped information. In fact I have my doubts that anyone you sell it to will care but if you feel more secure that is a decent option for nothing.

 

[ademcg]

Use a program like DBAN, you can set it to do any number of wipes of the hard drive, beyond about 7 it gets a bit academic as there are very few people with the time, ability or energy to devote to retrieving the wiped information. In fact I have my doubts that anyone you sell it to will care but if you feel more secure that is a decent option for nothing.

Excellent, cheers for the tip.....I am just paranoid I guess, after the wife had her savings wiped out earlier this year....internet fraud !!
She got it back, but it was kinda stressfull

I will check this out though...

 

[mosfet]

Another vote for DBAN. If you're really paranoid then use DBAN then fill it full of copies of a harmless file such a music or films before wiping again.