Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows Vista > Vista General Discussion > How do I SCRUB my PC?
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Papachar   11-01-2009 at 06:33:31 PM

I am planning to sell my PC which uses Windows Vista Home Premium software. I would like to scrub all my data before selling it. How do I go about scrubbing all the data stored in my computer?

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TheViper   11-01-2009 at 08:13:56 PM

Secure Erase uses a feature built into hard drives designed to wipe them clean.
http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

The NSA itself used to recommend this product.

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Zoron   11-02-2009 at 08:25:40 PM

You could download DBAN as well or use a zero-write utility that comes with whatever brand of hard drive you have. (All HD manufacturers have one). One pass is sufficient, but if you're really paranoid you could perform 2 or 3 passes. You'd need to perform some serious data forensics to get anything off after that.

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PatrickGSR94   11-04-2009 at 02:58:10 PM

Would formatting and re-installing the OS not be sufficient?

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fowang   11-04-2009 at 04:01:26 PM

My method is using a tool called the FORMAT HAMMER lol

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TheViper   11-04-2009 at 08:57:53 PM

PatrickGSR94 wrote :

Would formatting and re-installing the OS not be sufficient?


If you are confident the buyer is not someone after your personal data and you intend to include the OS in the purchase, you can do that. If this is for eBay or you don't know the buyer well, or at all, I'd suggest wiping the drive a few times first and go from there.

It's just a little more work to protect yourself from potential damage later on.

fowang wrote :

My method is using a tool called the FORMAT HAMMER lol


That's a very effective method but it also effectively renders the drive unsellable.

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