F-DISK AND ERASING

[eetrapnoel]

Hi,
I am wanting to sell my computer with WIN ME on it. If I do the normal f-disk and reinstall, will it erase all of my personal information off the hard drive? I have heard of studies where someone bought a box full of hard drives and they were able to retreive a large amount of info from them. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance,
eetrapnoel

 

[mattjurado]

Yes, they can retreive files if they have software/hardware to do so... There are third party products that are supposed to wipe drives clean, but I've been able to get files off them even after the drive is wiped, or at least the names of the files/directories...

What I recommend is you fdisk, format, and reinstall. Download restoration, a small free utility. Run it, see if anything sensitive is left behind. If so, see if you can restore it to a floppy. If you can, then you probably want to look a third part tool anyways. If not, then you are pretty safe. They would have to be highly motivated and have expensive hardware equipment to reconstruct your files.

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[mattjurado]

Oops, forgot url...

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[wolluf]

Or run something like

http://www.killdisk.com/features.htm

to really wipe the drive.