i'm selling my 18-month old Dell desktop. it's got Windows Vista. i plan to backup My Documents onto a flash drive, but what else can i do to make sure i don't leave anything personal on it? by personal, i mean any games i've installed or any other programs i chose to download. i know Vista has this System Restore thing, and i can probably take it back to Day 1 using that, but it only touches the Windows folder IIRC. everything else remains as is - this is one of the new features of Vista right?

here are my questions:

can i do this system restore thing and be sure that all my personal files/programs are gone? i'm guessing not, so what can i do to make sure it's wiped clean and looks like it did on Day 1 from the factory? will reinstalling Windows with the disks they gave me do the trick, or will that method also only work on the Windows folder like the system restore?

i want this computer to look like it did the first day it was turned on. any suggestions are welcome. thanks!!

[Edited on January 27, 2009 at 3:23 PM. Reason : .]

1/27/2009 3:22:20 PM

format and reinstall

or better yet, format, dod wipe and then give the computer and the install disc(s) to the new owner

1/27/2009 3:25:11 PM

ok...
a little instruction, if you please.

how do i format? how do i (and what is a) dod wipe?

1/27/2009 3:26:25 PM

Lookup how to do the restore. I think it's CTRL+F12 when the dell screen comes up right when it boots. Might have to try a few times. It's either then, or when the blue dell.com bar comes up just afterwards.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dod+wipe

[Edited on January 27, 2009 at 3:31 PM. Reason : -]

1/27/2009 3:30:32 PM

ok that will help....thanks for the link.

[Edited on January 27, 2009 at 3:32 PM. Reason : ]

1/27/2009 3:31:10 PM

You can format by booting to the install disc. It'll ask you what you want to do. One of the steps you can delete the partition, by doing so a partition has to be recreated and then formatted in subsequent steps. If you want to, you can stop after you do the format. Then give the whole thing and the install discs to the new owner.

If you are anal and had a whole lot of sensitive files on that HD, you can get a third party software package to boot to and then it will do a dod wipe, which is overwrite the drive a whole bunch of times to ensure data can't easily be retrieved.

If not, then fuck it. Most people go with fuck it.

1/27/2009 3:32:02 PM

I guess it's technically a restore, because you're restoring it back to factory. It usually uses Norton Ghost and only takes a few minutes to reimage the drive. It takes everything with it, so there's nothing left. The data could still be recovered with the right software though. That's what the DOD wipe is for. Do that afterwards if you want to be sure it's gone.

1/27/2009 3:33:29 PM

No one cares enough about your data for the DoD level wipe to be necessary. So long as you do a full format and not a quick format, someone would have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get your data and even then there would be no guarantees.

1/27/2009 3:44:08 PM

So, first step is to get my pictures and documents onto my flash drive. Next, I do the format thing which will basically wipe it clean. Then I'll reinstall Windows, shut it down, and hand it over. Does that sound right?

Is a dod wipe necessary if I format it? I just want to make sure that all the free games or free software that I downloaded to that PC is wiped clean. I don't have any super-secret files that I want to make sure are gone. All that plotting I did (as far as murdering my husband goes) I did at the public library.


[Edited on January 27, 2009 at 3:46 PM. Reason : ^OK then, I won't bother with that part]

1/27/2009 3:44:56 PM

Yeah, most people don't. Like a nuke from orbit though, it's the only way to be sure.

We have a lot of people's financial data on drives at one of my clients' so we do it when retiring drives...

1/27/2009 3:49:46 PM

Quote :

"So long as you do a full format and not a quick format, someone would have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get your data and even then there would be no guarantees."

are you sure? i thought i did a full format and was still able to recover a bunch of data with some cheap software program...


http://www.dban.org/ + recovery disk should do you right (assuming you have full recovery disks) assuming you have sensitive data.

1/27/2009 4:09:32 PM

if you really have sensitive data that you need to wipe, a 1 pass with DnB will do it. DoD wipe is super overkill and not necissary.

1/27/2009 4:09:39 PM

how about just take out the hd and put in another one then there is no possibility of stealing yur dataz..

1/27/2009 4:26:58 PM

^ thats really the best way...but she'll need a techie to help with that

1/27/2009 4:34:28 PM

she'll

1/27/2009 4:37:14 PM