Wiping old HD before selling?

[Lani]

I am selling my previous PC system and am wondering which is the best way to wipe info from the HD, I am of the understanding that a simple reformat does not get rid of everything.
Just wondering what the best way to do it is?

[trigger]

Try http://eraser.heidi.ie/ uses DoD standards.

Writes 0 on all bits of the HD and then writes over them with random bits just in case.

[Lani]

Thanks for that, looks good especially as it's free.

[MarkW]

Where I work we use a 4kg mallet and sell it without the harddrive - at auction. No chance of it being resurected.

If you have ever used your credit card or stored passwords for internet banking then this is really theonly way to be sure the this information cannot be resurected. DoD (US requirement is write three different values to each bit and repeat this 7 times.

You can use a product called Boot and Nuke which I believe is also reasonably secure. Personally I like the way work does it.

[Lani]

Well it certainly would solve the problem, and let out a bit of tension at the same time.

[pgbphotographytas]

At work we drill a hole in the hard drives before send them to the tip.