Erasing the Hard Drive ?

[NJTackle]

Go to the manufacturer website and download their hard drive utility to write zero's to the drive. This is called a low-level format. This will wipe out the drive (and OS) and not make it recoverable no matter what....or so I was told.

Replacing the hard drive with a new one is also a good idea Then drive a screwdriver or nail thru before discarding. Never assume just because it is thrown in the trash its gone.

[EricW]

If you need to erase data files on your pc and you know where they are, there is a shareware program floating around the net called "eraser". After you install it you can right click on individual files and "erase" them. It has several levels of wiping (#of passes of writing zeros). I think you can customize your own too.

If you want to erase the whole drive, I use Darin's boot and nuke. You create a floppy disk and boot it up. It is linux so it isn't the most user friendly , but not bad. It totally wipes the entire disk. It takes a couple days depending on HD size, but is very effective.

You can google both of those and find them. PM me if anyone has trouble finding them.

Eric

[JohnR]

To sum up what's above, the best way is to "Zero out" the hard drive and reload the operating system. No quick / easy way to leave the OS and just rid the data files...