Deleting personal info--donate tower

I'd like to donate my tower to a locate charity, but I'm concerned about my personal information that I've entered over the years being compromised. Even if I delete it all, how can I be certain it won't be? I don't want to spend the money for a brand new o.s. It currently has XP--thanks, Steve.

 

I would delete all sensitive files normally and then run Eraser and wipe free space with the maximum number of passes.

Then I would delete all partitions, create a new one and format the drive with Parted Magic.

Maybe the NSA could recover data from a drive so treated, I doubt anyone else could...

 

Ordinarily manufacturers will send you the software for free, or at a minimal cost. The most I have ever seen charged for a set of recovery discs was $25.

I can say that I have gotten software for free from Dell many times over the years.

 

Check with the charity many do this before sending out machines anyway, and would save you the hassle, you would be ok with just wiping the drive in that case.

 

I normally remove all that I need removed.
Then I run DiskRedactor.

http://www.cezeo.com/products/disk-redactor/