BleepingComputer.com: Getting ready to sell old computer

How about this scenario...
The kid's old dinosaur just got replaced by a little newer bargain refurbished unit.
He got the older one from the mother in law who did use it for her business.
It is kind of a piecemeal set up that someone built for her quite a few years ago.
I would love to just wipe it clean and fear that I really should do that before getting rid of it or selling or anything else. Older AMD processor 3/4 gb RAM and runs XP. I installed a wireless card, it has a network card, and a modem. I do NOT have the restore disks or anything like that. Hoping that I wont have to spend hours downloading drivers or replacing anything if I was to do format on the hdd. Any ideas or programs for cleaning, wiping clean w/o eliminating drivers or the OS?
I have manually tried to just go through and erase what looks disposable, no need to save anything any longer as all the data has moved to new machine...the new came with restore disc that I believe has XP on it too...

APPRECIATE it! ! !

get a new harddirve and reinstall the OS and drivers on it

DON'T sell a used hard drive !!!!!
some data can be restored even if you erased it

Ccleaner has drive wiper tool in it that try to remove data permanently

try it


my advice never sell a used hard drive

Thanks for that
I am concerned that I would have to purchase both a new hdd and a new OS
I know what you are saying about no hdd ever being really erased, but not sure if there was anything of any value on this ever. If it was, it has to be near 10 years old now, so guessing that any data would do little good to a "thief" now...?? Maybe I will check with Mother in Law too.
I did hit cnet and got Ccleaner and Cleaning Agent. Sounds like the Agent has a few tools to let you select what you want to clean and what you want to keep. I may try that. Just worried about deleting the OS (I only have the decals on the machine with authentification #s, no discs or anything)and drivers for any of the hardware. I do not want to have to search all over for replacing those.

THANKS for the help!!!
And advice!
Appreciate it!!!

You do realise that when you format a hard drive you erase it, all of it, not just part.

That means you will have to reload Windows and all drivers and programs.
The restore disk will not work on your other machine as they are make/model specific.

You could wipe it clean then donate it to a school or something like that.
They typically have IT people that can get it back running again.

There are programs to completely eradicate data from a Hard Drive, but they are not for the feint of heart.

I use DBAN (Deriks Boot And Nuke) to erase old drives, infected drives, drives in PC's being given to goodwill, etc. It erases the Data then rewrites the entire platter with 0's and 1's, I set it for 5 passes (wipe, write cycles) which is more then enough to eliminate your personal data.

Here's the catch(s) depending on drive size and computer speed it can take a very long time (my 1TB drive took more then a day if i remember correctly with my dual core, My grandma's 60gb took 6 hours with her 10 year old P4) and it can destroy the drive completely due to the amount of heat generated with a continuous read/write/erase loop, like DBAN uses

OS reinstall is not require for goodwill donation.

The donation deal after format may be what I do.
I have not had much response to my for sale ad, so...

AGAIN, THANKS for everyone's help and ideas!!!

A format does not remove the information on the drive. It just makes it very difficult to get to. If the information has not been wiped or wrote over it is still there. If anybody with the time and money wants it they can get it. Most peoples hard drive information is not worth the cost to gather. It cost in the thousands of dollars to pay a company to do this.

Well...

I am back at this again.
Thought I was done, but not quite yet:)
Swaying heavily towards the donating deal, but if I could wipe this clean first, I may try and sell it still.
The case does have an XP sticker with key # and everything on it.
I had the idea that I may be able to burn a restore or backup disc for the OS, format the "C" drive, then restore it with a clean install for a better selling point.
Seems like my last couple of laptops I did something like that with since manufacturer did not include any recovery software and suggested it.
Can this same type of disc be created in an older XP machine?
I looked through the system tools and restore functions without seeing much of anything besides how to create a restore point. I am really not interested in any of the data, drivers, added programs or apps being saved, just the OS for re-install after formatting the HDD.
I did a few searches without any real answers...
Anyone know how to create a XP back up or restore disc?
Hopefully I am explaining this weel enough...

THANKS in advance:)

Another idea, what I do with my old units, is reformat the drive and place an OS on it, then use it for a stand alone storage device. I've got two ancient machines that I do that with. They are old and slow, but they got huge drives and that is what I need.

AE

Thanks for that, and I will keep it in mind, but...
I got the son a 1GB external USB HDD for his storage needs on his new computer.
I really want the physical space and want to get the stuff out of his small bedroom for him.
And, putting the OS back on the machine is where I am having my troubles.
This old set up only has a 20GB HDD.

THANKS ! ! !

I have a similar situation. My mom and I both have some older computers that we are not sure what to do with. They were hand-me-downs from a friend who may have built them, and we do not have any of the operating disks to reinstall the OS. After a wipe would anyone want to buy a computer without an operating system? If not would a wipe be the best way to go or should I simply destroy the hard drive to save time and energy? Unless it would be worth it to get some discounted licenses for an Operating System and reinstall before donating or selling. What do you think?

I keep thinking (hoping that there is some way to create your own back up CD, or re-install just the OS on a clean hdd. No way to do that? It is a legit version of XP, the cert. of auth. and serial numbers are legit...no other way around just formatting C and leaving it empty???
Thanks again!

fingers crossed ! !

To Me this reads like a Mystery Novel with the last chapter ripped out...

Did the OP resulve the issue??
Did The OP sell or donate??
Was the Op able to create a operating Disk??
Was the OP able to wipe the HDD clean??
I'm curious by nature....

MissPlaced

If the key sticker is still on your computers and nobody else is using the product key on another computer you don't have to buy anything. Find a friend that has a Windows disc that matches that sticker, (XP-Home/XP-Pro). Install Windows and use the key to make Microsoft happy. When you buy Windows what you really are paying for is the sticker that has the legal product key. If the sticker is gone you will have to buy Windows to get a new legal product key.Their are programs that you can use to get the legal product key right off the hard drive. The key stays with the computer not the person.

This post has been edited by Layback Bear: 09 October 2011 - 01:16 PM