Cleansing your old computer

[Funseeker 22]

Hey Guys,

Gonna be getting new equipt soon but know that I should remove hidden stuff on my existing system before I give it away or donate it.

Any advice or suggestions as to what I need to do would be greatly appreciated.

Please keep any instructions to cleanup 101 since I can get easily lost in the hard drive.

Thanks,

[JamesK840]

If you've used the computer for personal finances or business, or if it's going to a familly memeber and you're worried about porn (or web history and cached images, even if you never downloaded images to keep), the safest bet by far is to 'dust off and nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure...'. If it's a store-bought computer like a Compaq, Dell, etc, it should have came with 'restore disks'. Once you have files you want to keep copied off just boot off of these and have them to do their thing. If you don't have restore disks you could use an OS disk to erase all the existing partitions and then do a re-install.

[+ Hoover42]

A program called Evidence Eliminator is one of the most recommended programs for wiping hard drives.

 

You can download it from the following link:

 

http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2092-10206329.html

 

...Hoover

[+ deej]

Nuke it. Wipe it clean and start from scratch. It's the only way you'll ever be absolutely sure.

 

As has been said, you should have disks from when you bought the machine to reconstitute it to factory-shipped condition. If you've lost them, vendors will often provide replacements for a nominal fee. (What price do YOU put on peace of mind? )

 

It may take an hour to do this, but it'll take that or more to do any "removal" (which is never guaranteed to be complete).

 

Format the hard disk and install the OS licensed to that machine from scratch.

[OneFinger]

>Nuke it. Wipe it clean and start from scratch. It's the only way you'll ever be absolutely sure.

 

Aren't there programs that can do an "unformat" and bring back some files? Unless you've done a complete rewrite of the entire disk, doesn't sufficient info reside in the "fat" file to reconstruct some things?

[+ deej]

>Aren't there programs that can do an "unformat" and bring back

>some files? Unless you've done a complete rewrite of the

>entire disk, doesn't sufficient info reside in the "fat" file

>to reconstruct some things?

 

This is one of those "it depends" questions.

 

If you're doing one of those "restore disk" things, they generally (but not always) completely restore the disk to its shipping state. In other words, a complete rewrite. It's like having a new computer.

 

Unformat utilities rely entirely on unused portions of the disk not being re-used.

 

Most of the recent Windows versions completely wipe the disk during a clean install.

[eastbayguy]

This is an extreme method. But, it is very, very effective. Go buy a new hard disk, install the operating system and whatever other system files are essential. Hard disk prices are soooo low that you won't miss the money.

 

Get a hammer. Pound your old hard disk in to little, tiny pieces. Use whatever tools are necessary to cut the platters themselves in to several pieces each.

 

No, I'm not paranoid. But, I did personally witness a demonstration where data was recovered from a hard disk that had been disassembled and the platters subjected to intense magnetic fields from a big, industrial media degaussing machine. The disk was then reassembled and put through a data recovery process. (proprietary, not one of the commercial ones) The guys doing this demonstration produced a pretty complete directory listing and were able to recover most any file. I was shocked.

 

--EBG

[JamesK840]

There are all kinds of ways to recover data, but it would be rather difficult for the simple $50-$100 or free hacker programs to recover much after the disk has been erased *then re-installed onto*. Not impossible, there may be some files that are in the now unused section which these programs could recover, but it would take a lot of specific work by somebody pretty sure there was something worth getting at on the machine. I didn't think he was looking for more then making sure there was no way somebody couldn't accidentally come across something he'd rather they didn't. (There's a contorted sentence.)

 

I've met Funseeker, and he didn't seem like the kind of guy to get on the NSA's bad side, so I'm pretty sure his computer wouldn't be subject to professional data recovery (easily thousands of dollars). So put down the hammer! ;o)

[Funseeker 22]

Thanks for the responses guys.

There`s nothing on my computer I`m aware of that would present any problem but just wanted to check to see what I should do when I get new stuff.

Thought I had to bury it in my backyard for awhile.

[+ deej]

Seven years is the recommended waiting period. :+

 

Actually, it's a moot point in a lot of cases. If you've had the machine long enough that it's no longer adequate, it's not gonna be adequate for a LOT of people. You'd be doing them a disservice even giving it to them.

[JamesK840]

It is really something how cheap things are getting, a great desktop or perfectly fine laptop for around/under $1000, a passable desktop for easily less then $500, and all of these are far, far faster then anything over a year and a half old no matter how much it originally cost!

 

Still, there are a lot of people that could really use a computer (even within most extended families...) and plenty of charities that will gladly take a working computer, probably give you more then it's worth as a write-off too.

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

Donations

 

>Still, there are a lot of people that could really use a

>computer (even within most extended families...) and plenty of

>charities that will gladly take a working computer, probably

>give you more then it's worth as a write-off too.

 

This is very true but depends on where you call home. I would call a charity such as the United Way or perhaps a gay and lesbian charity of your choice, describe the computer and ask them if they would desire it or if they know any other group who might find it of use. Church and urban/inner city groups who serve a lower income population would also find a computer, even an older one, a potentially good contribution.

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

Reformat, Reformat, Reformat

 

Format, then reformat the computer several times. If it is a windows base computer, then run the windows utlities software, once you reinstall the OS, then reformat it again several times.

 

Essentially the same applies for the Mac OS, except I would recomend that you use Norton to erase and reformat.

 

Building better hard drives one swipe at a time....

[+ deej]

>It is really something how cheap things are getting, a great

>desktop or perfectly fine laptop for around/under $1000, a

>passable desktop for easily less then $500, and all of these

>are far, far faster then anything over a year and a half old

>no matter how much it originally cost!

 

So true. I'm nearly ready to get rid of an el-cheapo computer I bought a few years ago. At the time, I needed some extra disk space so I bought a 40gig drive that came wrapped in a cheap computer for under what I paid the last escort I saw for 2 hours.

 

I don't think you can actually buy 40gig hard drives any more. ;-)

 

>Still, there are a lot of people that could really use a

>computer (even within most extended families...) and plenty of

>charities that will gladly take a working computer, probably

>give you more then it's worth as a write-off too.

 

Yes and no. If I give away this computer, the recipient will need to buy monitor and keyboard which could easily cost more as standalone components than some of the far superior new complete computers available at Circuit City or Costco, and they'd still be stuck with inferior equipment.

 

Is the donation really doing them a favor? (If it really does them a favor, go for it! But make sure you're not costing them more than you're giving them.)

 

It's a connundrum. The industry has moved so fast from luxury item to consumable commodity it can be really tough disposing of used computers.

[Prime Muscle]

"I should remove hidden stuff on my existing system"

 

Come on Funseeker - share some of that hidden stuff! Let us all in on your deep, hidden secrets!

[+ Charlie]

I recently attempted to get rid of a nine year old Macintosh (on which I first discovered this site) and couldn't even give it away to charities or friends with very young kids. I ended up going to a place that recyles computer elements and paid them a nominal amount to take it, since I didn't want to dump it on the street or have it end up in landfill. I have had similar problems with old stereo equipment. Sometimes I think that humans may have to find another planet because this one will one day be overloaded with junk electronic equipment.