I want to sell my computer, how can I clear my hard drive?

Someone once recomended me to ';wipe free space'; with a file shredder and defragment. What does that mean exactly?I want to sell my computer, how can I clear my hard drive?
Physically shred it.I want to sell my computer, how can I clear my hard drive?
If this is a Dell try whats below


If not sorry for wasting your time





Using Dell PC Restore by Symantec


NOTICE: Using Dell PC Restore permanently deletes all data on the hard drive and removes any applications or


drivers installed after you received your computer. If possible, back up the data before using PC Restore. Use PC


Restore only if System Restore did not resolve your operating system problem.


NOTE: Dell PC Restore by Symantec is not available in all countries or on all computers.


Use Dell PC Restore by Symantec only as the last method to restore your operating system.


PC Restore restores your hard drive to the operating state it was in when you purchased the computer.


Any programs or files added since you received your computer鈥攊ncluding data files鈥攁re permanently


deleted from the hard drive. Data files include documents, spreadsheets, e-mail messages, digital photos,


music files, and so on. If possible, back up all data before using PC Restore.


To use PC Restore:


1 Turn on the computer.


During the boot process, a blue bar with www.dell.com appears at the top of the screen.


2 Immediately upon seeing the blue bar, press %26lt;Ctrl%26gt;%26lt;F11%26gt;.


IF YOU DO NOT PRESS %26lt;CTRL%26gt;%26lt;F11%26gt; IN TIME, LET THE COMPUTER FINISH STARTING, AND THEN RESTART THE


COMPUTER AGAIN.


NOTICE: If you do not want to proceed with PC Restore, click Reboot in the following step.


3 On the next screen that appears, click Restore.


4 On the next screen, click Confirm.


The restore process takes approximately 6鈥?0 minutes to complete.


56 Troubleshooting Tools


5 When prompted, click Finish to reboot the computer.


NOTE: Do not manually shut down the computer. Click Finish and let the computer completely reboot.


6 When prompted, click Yes.


The computer restarts. Because the computer is restored to its original operating state, the screens that


appear, such as the End User License Agreement, are the same ones that appeared the first time the


computer was turned on.


7 Click Next.


The System Restore screen appears and the computer restarts.


8 After the computer restarts, click OK.





Go to Microsoft Updates as you now will be WAY out of date.
Hmmm...some of the advice you have gotten is not quite right.





Reformatting your hard drive will NOT erase completely the tracks of what now is on it. Forensic disk reading software -- even some simple file recovery software -- will find and be able to retrieve some of those files.





Whomever told you to wipe free space and use a shredder was right. If you are selling just the hardware--not an operational computer with Windows (or any other OS installed)--then you can and should reformat the hard drive after you have wiped it AND when you are sure you are completely ready to end its useful-to-you life.





You can get a decent (not great, but for this purpose it will do) file shredder for free. Go to download.com, search file shredder and look for File Shredder 2. Read about it and the CNet editors' review.





You can choose the algorithm to use for erasing those files you want to erase AND to shred free space. Do it. I suggest using the Guttman method (35 passes)--and then reshred free space (yes, again) using one of the DOD-standard methods.





Obviously, you must identify the files you wish to shred and be sure to get all those you want to get without impairing your computer's ability to continue to function while you shred (and later, reformat, if you are going to do that).





And I once read advice about cleaning your hard drive before you dispose of your computer from a high-level security expert: wipe it at least 50 times (my advice above won't get you to 50, but it will be pretty darn thorough)--and then drive a stake through the drive. (The last part is not a good idea if you intend to sell a working computer.)





Good luck!
formating once is not enough. If you quick format it will just erase the file allcoation tables if your using fat32 or the MFT if your using ntfs. When you delete a file in windows the file is just marked as delted. The file is still in its sector on the disc. when you format a disk it erases everything on the disc. When you format with windows it just puts 0s and 1s on the hard disk. 0 and 1s are how a computer reads stuff. you have to format the drive more than once. I recommend 3 times the minum. I use this program to format my disc. It is call dban nuke disc it is a free program that boots from a floppy or cd. check out the site http://dban.sourceforge.net/
Google windowswasher, it gives you the ability to format your pc if you want to get rid of sensitive data you don't want others to see. Best of all, it's a 30 free day trial with lots of options to reformat: Simple one's and zeroez, to russian encryption.
just format providing there nothing super secret no1 will ever bother to look and it all be gone use win xp cd or win me or what ever and just format and reinstall windows then ur good to go





(the only way gettin data back after that is using pritty good stuff like programs designed to do it so i doubt any 1 will even bother) if ur realy worried just buy new hard driver 拢40 for a 500gb 1 lol





and file shredding ok but u dnt realy want to go all thro ur pc lookin for ever little bit of data do u ? like all internet exploer cache all the cookies all the temp files all reg files lot easier just to format
easiest way is to reformat the computer. that erases everything and puts the os back on there. Of course you have to reinstall all the programs.