I have 2 computers that I want to get rid of. One has win 7 and is a desktop and the other is an ols laptop with XP. What I would like to do is to wipe the data off the disk without killing the O/S. The only apps I've found so far do an entire clean. Any suggestions?
If you have your OS on one partition and data on another, you can format one partition and leave the OS. If you have only one partition there isn't much you can do other than a delete of folders but they are not really wiped from the HD if someone wanted to go to the trouble of trying to recover them.
You could delete all your old data and use ccleaner to wipe free space only, you have 4 options of 1 pass, 3 pass, 7 pass, 35 pass.
I have not tried it but Ccleaner says it can wipe free space.
Piriform - Wiping free disk space
Download CCleaner 3.24.1850 - FileHippo.com
Jerry
BrightBlessings was faster
Without having to reinstall just stripping out your data and programs could be sufficient if you run CCleaner Disk and Registry cleaners afterwards then use it's Tool to Wipe empty disk space as suggested. That's probably sufficient since it would be nearly impossible to recover data using all but forensics tools.
Another option is running Factory Recovery from its partition or disks which will format over the partition before reinstalling and set PC back to factory condition. You'd not need to do much more than that since it allows the new owner to set it up.
To get the cleanest possible wipe you'd want to run Diskpart Clean ALL Command
but that requires a clean reinstall or running the Factory Recovery disks.
What I always do is a complete wipe of the drive with a single pass, then a clean install of the OS. The buyer will appreciate not having useless applications installed, and it makes sure the system runs as well as it can.
Hi,
Just another option to consider for the Windows 7 PC:
Windows 7 Installation - Prepare PC to be Sold
Regards,
Golden
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