Laptop - Identity Theft

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Guest

Hi guys,
I was thinking about how to avoid identity theft when selling a laptop on
and wanted to see what others thought was the best way? (other than bitlocker)

1. Delete all personal data (temp internet files, docs etc)
2. run cipher.exe /w on your disks
3. rebuild
 
John said:
Hi guys,
I was thinking about how to avoid identity theft when selling a laptop on
and wanted to see what others thought was the best way? (other than bitlocker)

1. Delete all personal data (temp internet files, docs etc)
2. run cipher.exe /w on your disks
3. rebuild
Click to expand...

Look on the net for a copy of the free DBAN (Dariks boot & nuke) &
create a nuke CD.
Boot from it & type "autonuke" & it will wipe a disk completly.
Used it myself today infact :-)
Don't bother with deleting or formatting, just run this app it'll wipe
it all.

Note that I think it wipes ALL disks in the machine not just C so make
sure any you don't want to wipe are disconnected.
 
How sensitive is the data and how paranoid are you?

Formatting and reinstalling if the risk if minimal.
You could write zeroes to the drive multiple times reducing the
possibility of data recovery.
Given appropriate resources, the data can be recovered regardless of
what procedure you use on the drive.
There is always a chance if the possessor of the drive has the
resources.

The other extreme, buy another hard drive and reinstall the system on
the new drive.
Keep the old hard drive reducing the possibility to absolutely 0% of
the buyer getting access to any of your old data.
 
I second DBAN. It can wipe a hard drive to DoD standards. You can still get
data off, but it better be damn good data, as it's going to cost a fortune
and lots of time to get it back.

Completely wipe it out and reinstall Windows is about the best way to do it.

--
Dustin Harper
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.vistarip.com

--
 
Dustin said:
I second DBAN. It can wipe a hard drive to DoD standards.
Click to expand...

I believe there's no longer any such thing. As far as DoD (and the
security industry) are concerned the only safe way to remove data from a
disk is to physically destroy the disk.

Alun Harford
 
Buy and install a new hard drive, rebuild the OS on the new hard drive, and
then sell the laptop. You can then either take the old drive and put it in
an external drive housing or smash it with a hammer.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
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