how to wipe a laptop clean for donation windows vista

#How to wipe a laptop clean for donation windows vista full version#
#How to wipe a laptop clean for donation windows vista install#
#How to wipe a laptop clean for donation windows vista windows 10#
#How to wipe a laptop clean for donation windows vista Pc#

If you need to erase a large number of disks, it might be worth the monetary investment, otherwise you’re good with the free version. You can use the program from within Windows directly, via DOS or use bootable media so you can wipe any disk whether it was running Windows, Linux, OS X, etc. If you do purchase the program, then you have a great set of 17 choices for deleting your data:

Definitely DBan is better since you can use the DoD 5220.22-M protocol. The free version only has one way to delete the data on a hard drive (erasing with one-pass zeroes), but it’s still good enough for a decent hard drive wipe. The professional version is definitely better than DBan in terms of options, but it’s not worth shelling out $40 or $50. KillDisk comes in two flavors: Free and Professional. If, for some reason, DBan does not work for you, you can try out the other programs mentioned below. I’ve used this program several times and have found that it does an excellent job erasing data on many different types of hard drives. IF you just leave it on this PC, when you go to reactivate it on your new PC, MS is likely to block that.You can choose from different wipe methods including Gutmann Wipe, Department of Defense Short and Medium and others.

#How to wipe a laptop clean for donation windows vista Pc#

This latter could be a problem because some of the Microsoft Office tools make automatic backups and store those, by default, on the OS partition, not on any data drive.Īlso, you might have to 'uninstall' Office 2007 from this PC if you intend to reuse it on your new PC. This include browsing history, personal information of any websites you surfed, personal information of any online forms you completed, cached downloads from any sites you visited, any personal information you entered into any Microsoft files. The list is nearly endless of other personal data that could be stored inside the OS partition on that PC. Once running Minitool, select the drive you want to wipe and choose the option to wipe the partitions.īE CAREFUL - because if you choose the wrong drive, you will wipe out the Windows installation.īTW, a simpler and easier solution, since this is a desktop, would be to simply remove the drive with your stored data.

#How to wipe a laptop clean for donation windows vista install#

Once you have this, you have a choice of media to create:ġ) If you can boot from CD, download and install ImgBurn and use the Write Image to Disk option to create a bootable CD.Ģ) If you can boot from USB, download and install RUFUS and use the option to create a bootable USB stick from the ISO file.īoot your PC with the media you created. This is a free partitioning tool and you should download their Boot CD ISO file to a local drive. IF you're prepared to spend that time, I recommend the use of a third-party tool known as Minitool Partition Wizard.

What you need to do is 'wipe' the drive - and this consists of overwriting the drive with ones, or zeroes, or both - and that can take HOURS to do. Is there any other files or folders that should also be revised and/or erased?Īlthough this computer is old it would still provide someone with some value.Īny suggestions me to welcome you to the HP forums!ġ) Drive Wiping - erasing files accomplishes nothing useful because all that does is remove entries from a partition table, and it leave the files intact. What is the best way to completely erase this one drive? and 2. It has two (2) hard drives and I only saved my personal date to one particular drive. However, I am concerned about any traces of my personal information remaining on the computer. Excel spreadsheets, Word processing and using it for e-mail, the computer would be just fine for them. However, everything works OK and I am planning to donate it to my church. Normally a computer of this vintage is not worth my effort to 'Upgrade' to the latest and greatest technology and I would normally just 'trash it'.

#How to wipe a laptop clean for donation windows vista windows 10#

I have recently purchased a new Windows 10 Envy laptop to replace it.

#How to wipe a laptop clean for donation windows vista full version#

It has a full version of Office 2007 and works just fine. I have an older HP desktop (HP Pavilion Model #: n8120n), with a Windows Vista operating system. This computer is approximately 9 years old and I am planning to donate it to my church.