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Anonymouse · 20-08-2005, 07:40

There are things like Evidence Eliminator available; these effectively do a low-level format, probably safer than doing it via the BIOS, and the data should then be irretrievable to anyone who doesn't have extremely sophisticated (i.e. extremely expensive) software tools. But it generally isn't worth it, unless you've got lots of personal data on the HD and you don't want to take even the small risk of anyone retrieving them. For the most part, just formatting the HD and reinstalling XP should be enough. It also depends on who you sell the PC to; a kid or a fiftysomething probably wouldn't be interested in any such data.

20-08-2005, 07:40	#8
Anonymouse RIP Tigger - 14 years?! Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bolton Age: 60 Services: BT Superfast Broadband Posts: 1,865	Re: Things to do prior to selling my PC? There are things like Evidence Eliminator available; these effectively do a low-level format, probably safer than doing it via the BIOS, and the data should then be irretrievable to anyone who doesn't have extremely sophisticated (i.e. extremely expensive) software tools. But it generally isn't worth it, unless you've got lots of personal data on the HD and you don't want to take even the small risk of anyone retrieving them. For the most part, just formatting the HD and reinstalling XP should be enough. It also depends on who you sell the PC to; a kid or a fiftysomething probably wouldn't be interested in any such data.