best way to wipe personal data from Hard drive wo deleting windows

[macgig]

Im told a program called recuva can wipe the files. and ccleaner can wipe free space. is their something else I should be doing or using to remove personal data from the hard drive?

i've heard of dban but its a little complicated and I really dont want to remove windows and have to reinstall it. any tips are appreciated.

 

[oneextraid]

CCleaner free version has an option to wipe free space. Delete personal files and run.

There is another program called eraser that will do the same thing.

 

[Nigsy]

If your PC has a recovery partition you should be able to boot into recovery and this will reset the PC to an 'Out of the box state'.

 

[gregrocker]

Why do you feel you need to wipe unused drive space? This is not really necessary. The only reasons to wipe a drive is to make data unrecoverable or clear boot code causing installation problems.

 

[Golden]

Another option for you:
- native Windows command
- no 3rd party tools required
- run from within Windows

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/276046-cipher-command-overwrite-deleted-data-windows.html

 

[Layback Bear]

Great tutorial Golden!

 

[macgig]

Why do you feel you need to wipe unused drive space? This is not really necessary. The only reasons to wipe a drive is to make data unrecoverable or clear boot code causing installation problems.

making data unrecoverable is what im after. im going to sell the pc or give it away.

 

[Layback Bear]

Here is a tutorial by Kari that should meet your needs.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/197255-windows-7-installation-prepare-pc-sold.html

 

[Golden]

Here is a tutorial by Kari that should meet your needs.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/197255-windows-7-installation-prepare-pc-sold.html

^Thats the best tutorial if you intended getting rid of the system