Using "wipe drive with system saver"

:confusedMy brother gave me his laptop with windows 7 and some good programs i.e. office, I would like to wipe the HD clean but still want to use the PC. I saw a program called "Wipe drive with system saver" by White Canyon software. Has anyone used this program and how securely does it wipe my hard drive. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you:confused

 

Keep in mind that when you wipe the drive, all the "good programs" like Office (and Windows 7 too) will be 100% gone forever, and if you're not careful, this may wipe any recovery/restore partition also. Wiping a drive means that EVERY bit of data is COMPLETELY erased - forever. If you do not have a re-install disc for Windows, if you do not have re-install discs for Office and the other good programs, then wiping is NOT a good idea. Wiping will leave you with a laptop that powers on, and that's all. All you'll get is a "Operating system not found" message.

Generally speaking, performing a secure low-level wipe is unnecessary. If you simply want to have a clean copy of Windows installed, use the recovery/restore partition if available. This will erase all the data on the main drive C: partition (however, it is not a 'secure wipe'). As Windows is re-installed and used, new data is written across the drive which effectively renders any previously remaining info un-useable. If the PC does not have a recovery/restore partition, the DO NOT wipe the drive unless you have an install disc for Windows with a corresponding product key.

NOTE - Office is not 'built-in' to Windows. I have performed MANY clean installs of Windows (probably over 2000 over the past 5-6 years), and MANY MANY people are shocked when they notice that Word and Excel are no longer on their PCs (even though I explained that "everything will be erased, this includes ALL programs like Office or Nero or WordPerfect or iTunes, you will ONLY have regular Windows functionality with web access, multimedia capabilities, etc, but anything that is not 'built-in' to Windows will be gone) . . . . :-o sorry for the rant - I've had a couple of Bloody Mary's and .... well.... ya know ..... I got carried away ...... :drink LOL

:innocent

 

Hi

Already mentioned by plodr, Eraser is a great (free) program for securely erasing a hard drive while not destroying the things you want to keep. It has the option to wipe free space (where "deleted files" reside), and you can also selectively erase files/folders from the drive. It has varying eraser methods, from a simple "Windows erase" (simply tells the hard drive the file's no longer needed) to secure 1-35 (or maybe more) pass pseudo-random data overwriting. It installs as a regular program, and requires elevated (run as Administrator) privileges in order to function.

That's what I'd personally recommend in your case.

The developer's page for it is here: http://eraser.heidi.ie/

EDIT: To answer your ORIGINAL question, I've never used the software you mentioned (though it rings a bell... so maybe I've tried it in the past), but I doubt it can beat Eraser. Also, "system" can mean JUST your Windows installation, OR Windows/installed programs, OR Windows/installed programs/personal files... do you want to take the chance of deleting something you wanted to keep?

 

Thanks for the help! It's a HP HDX16 laptop, windows7. Eraser sounds like the way to go. Is there any way he could have hidden data (text or pictures) in a place that eraser couldn't find and if so how can I find them? You guys are great P.S. dlb a bloody Mary sure sounds good!!! enjoy.

 

Eraser sounds very good, but you can also use CCleaner.

Piriform - CCleaner: Wiping free disk space