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How do I clear my hard drive please?

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  • How do I clear my hard drive please?

    As you may be aware, the beautiful new computer is faulty :( Dell have now offered to replace it completely and they will send me a new one next week. Thing is, Im not keen on it going back to wherever with any of my stuff still imprinted on its hard drive. How do I clear this so no one can find it? I assume the techis at Dell would have more than the necessary skill to be able to read it.

  • #2
    When Dave had to have a replacement Hard Drive, he ran a very, very strong magnet over it! Doesn't completely get rid of things but messes the files up a bit! You could try that. Has to be very strong one though!

    Simply formatting the drive is no good as this only marks space available and does not actually destroy the data.
    Wendy



    PLEASE SCAN AT 300-600 DPI FOR RESTORATION PURPOSES. THANK YOU!

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    • #3
      OK Wendy, OH has strong magnets - OH has every damn thing! But will they not say Ive mucked up the puter? I guess not as its not working right in the first place. Funnily enough the constant clicking and ticking from the hard drive seems to have quietened a lot now (may be it knows its going to puter heaven!)

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      • #4
        wouldn't doing a system restore back to factory settings do it? Or can't you do that on new pooters?
        Rose

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        • #5
          Heather

          The PC should have come with a back up / recovery disc.

          You use this as a boot disc and it wipes all the stuff on it and puts it back to how it was when you received it.

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          • #6
            Dave says that doing a system restore or using a recovery disc, won't wipe off everything Heather has put on there, it will still be there, and anyone with the knowledge will be able to access it.
            Wendy



            PLEASE SCAN AT 300-600 DPI FOR RESTORATION PURPOSES. THANK YOU!

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            • #7
              Originally posted by WendyPusey View Post
              Dave says that doing a system restore or using a recovery disc, won't wipe off everything Heather has put on there, it will still be there, and anyone with the knowledge will be able to access it.
              Perhaps ring Dell again then Heather and ask them?

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              • #8
                Originally posted by WendyPusey View Post
                Dave says that doing a system restore or using a recovery disc, won't wipe off everything Heather has put on there, it will still be there, and anyone with the knowledge will be able to access it.
                clever bods, these computer chaps! I did wonder about criminal cases and missing person cases where they say that such-and-such was found on the puter. So once it's on, it's on for ever then? (if you know how to find it)
                Rose

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                • #9
                  Rosi - I think you can buy a program that claims to delete it all completely. I have never done it though.

                  We did the ultimate - when our old computer was finished we took the hard drive out and smashed it up with a hammer. It was a shame really but we couldn't cope with the thought of someone else having our (not very private) information!

                  Anne

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                  • #10
                    Yes, real experts can find stuff even on deleted hard drives cant they. I guess its highly unlikely if I did reformat it (is that what its called? - gawd knows how - I managed to get it back to factory settings the other day after the technician told me how but I cant remember how - I think you have to press F12 a lot as it boots and then you get the option?) that someone would think it worthwhile to try to read about my family history or my husbands work letters but its uncomfortable thinking they could. If I were just getting rid of an old puter Id smash the hard drive but as its going back to Dell, I cant do that can I?

                    I feel guilty cos its everso quiet at the mo, but then I know it will start all the flashing and clicking noises when I search or change page which does remind me of the old puter just before the hard drive failed. So I think its wise to accept the new one because I will never feel secure with this one now.

                    Say I work out how to reset it to factory settings, having deleted first all my files and stuff and THEN use the big magnet? Thats as much as I can do, isnt it.

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                    • #11
                      My OH suggests asking Dell - What would they advise as to returning a hard disc with sensitive info on it?

                      OK, its not that sensitive, but they wont know that .

                      He says he can maybe find you a prog that will wipe it. bear with him for a bit, he's sanding at the mo. You could ( apparently) use a dos prog called Fdisk.exe run from a bootable floppy disk.

                      hopefully Dave P could talk you thru this

                      Tep, jargon to me too
                      Jess

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                      • #12
                        Update :
                        He says Google

                        Derik's boot & destroy
                        Jess

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                        • #13
                          You can also try Heidi Computers Ltd program Eraser, its free download and should do the trick, just google "eraser" without the inverted commas

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                          • #14
                            All major manufacturers and retailers should be using erasing software which will remove ALL traces of your data... However, you are trusting that they will do that.....

                            The only surefire way to remove ALL the data is to physically destroy the disks within the drive........

                            As has been said before, query it with Dell...
                            https://squeakerslair.wordpress.com

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                            • #15
                              Thanks guys, very good of you to give me so many ideas. If I do them all, then I guess Ive a good a chance as any of stopping anyone getting my info. Well, I cant break the hard drive though can I. Ive emailed Dell asking them what they suggest.

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                              • #16
                                Well Ravish from Dell emailed me today and said the new puter should arrive this week, next week at latest. He advises me to download all my info to a memory stick ready for the new puter but just says dont worry about the hard drive it will be cleared when it gets back to the depot - hmmmmmmmmmmmm:o

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                                • #17
                                  Google "delete hard disc data". It looks promising.

                                  If I remember right, you need a program to erase all the data, then fill the disc with nulls or garbage. This process to be repeated several times.

                                  When you delete a file all that happens is that the first character of the file name is changed to a tilde, which is why recovery programs can retrieve data. When all disc space is full, new data overwrites any files starting with a tilde. Hence the need for repeated deletes and overwrites.

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                                  • #18
                                    Thanks Hugo, this is my new puter. What I did in the end was delete all the documents Id put on and then I reformatted the puter back to factory image. Im hoping thats going to be ok as its already on its way back to Dell.

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