Erasing a hard drive

I will be donating an old computer to charity and need to make sure ALL personal information is completely gone. I am about to erase a single hard drive that has two separate partitions. One partition is the recovery partition and the other is the OS (which has my personal files on it). My question is, should I wipe out BOTH partitions with CCleaner or just wipe out the larger OS partition? Is it even possible to have personal files (photos, documents, etc.) on the recovery partition? Should I be nice and leave the recovery partition to the charity? My gut is to wipe out both partitions just to be safe but wanted to get your feedback.

Thanks, -Brian

 

The recovery partition should just be the files needed to set the computer back to defaults. Unless you saved something there on purpose it should be difficult for any program to write to that partition.

Give the make and model of computer (we can check the user's manual).

Once we figure out how to start the recovery process, then we can test it to see if that option is still available and working. If it appears to start (depends if it starts before Windows with a F9/F10 type key or within Windows) then we can figure out if there is a way to securely delete your current Windows partition while still allowing you or the charity to set the computer back to factory defaults. Having a computer with a fresh installation of Windows would be more useful to them then a blank HD.

 

Sach,

Keep in mind that using a factory restore partition on a hard drive only does a quick reformat of the main drive partition.

For most users, this should be adequate. I have tried using file restore programs on a drive that was reformatted due to off-the-chart malware issues; I've yet to have any luck recovering old files.

There is a very slight chance, however, that a hacker who is an expert at forensic level data recovery could end up restoring some files from a drive that was quick formatted.

If there is extremely sensitive data on the drive, the individual files/folders can be securely erased using a data shredding program (such as the one included in Advanced System Care) prior to doing the factory restore.

 

Thanks gman863!

I'm hoping that the factory restore is accessible from a pre-boot Windows situation using an F# key.

If that works then then bdr13278 can use the factory restore to wipe his current installation and create a new installation on C: drive while preserving D: drive.

Then use CCleaner on the new C: to Wipe the free space deleting any remnants of files.

Then do a new factory restore. That would give a working OS with very little chance of anything being recovered from C: drive.

There may be other options but I'm just trying to figure out how to re-install the OS on C: rather than deleting all possibilities by formatting D: drive. If D: drive can be used to re-install the OS from outside of Windows I think there may be ways to fully format C:, even several times, and still reinstall the original OS.

I value your opinion, especially if the factory restore is only accesible from Windows. I think a combination of CCleaner's wipe function and Factory Restore should sufficiently clean the C: partition and yet still give an OS. What do you think?

 

Depending on the make and model, some restores can be done directly from the BIOS splash screen using "F9" or "F11", others require pressing "F8" and choosing the option "Repair Your Computer". If the "F8" option is required, my experience has been the factory restore partition will only be listed as an option if the OEM copy of Windows is still on the drive - it will not come up as an option using a Windows install disk or generic Windows repair disk.

Although you can't be too careful nowadays, I personally think the risk of identity theft is greater from someone going through your trash than attempting to fish for data on a restored hard drive. My logic behind the post was to cover any extremely sensitive data such as trade secrets or customer files.

For a normal user, I would use a data shredding program (ASC, CClean, etc.) on specific files and folders containing personal information (tax returns, Quicken, My Documents, etc.) prior to reformatting the drive. My thought is this would take less time and still insure personal data cannot be brought back to life.

 

Could do the recovery then run this.
I use it and I like it.

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

 

Well this particular laptop I did not have the power cord to and was told the computer wouldn't power up so all I have is the hard drive. The hard drive is fine and I could transfer the old files off of it. What I ended up doing was erasing the OS partition and left the recovery partition on the hard drive so i this is ever booted up again, they can use that to reinstall the OS. Thanks everyone.