Getting rid of old latop ... need to remove all data

[ChimpMaster]

getting rid of old laptop and need to wipe out drive. Laptop has no internet access or CD drive or USB drivers for external drives. Short of destroying the hard drive, is there any other way for me to make sure that the data is wiped off?

[blacjac]

Fill yer boots

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...roy+data&meta=

[BolshieBastard]

Re format the hard drive a couple of times.

[Ardesco]

format the hard drive then copy new files onto the drive to fill it up again and then reformat.

Rinse and repeat a couple of times.

[Churchill]

format the hard drive then copy new files onto the drive to fill it up again and then reformat.

Rinse and repeat a couple of times.

If only it were so simple...

[ChimpMaster]

can't format the c: drive eh.

[Churchill]

The read/write head never visits exactly the same place on a disk that's how data recovery experts can resurrect old data.

[Ardesco]

The read/write head never visits exactly the same place on a disk that's how data recovery experts can resurrect old data.

Agreed, but if you rewrite over the whole thing and then format three or four times you will get rid of as much data as it is possible to get rid of. The only other option is destroying the drive which i'm assuming the OP doesn't want to do.....

[TykeMerc]

Actually a format doesn't write accross any of the data segments at all unless you do a low level format and that's a thing of the distant past.

The normal DOS/Windows format command just changes the file headers and File Allocation tables so a simple unformat utility can recover any data that hasn't been overwritten by new data. The same goes for a file delete, all it does is change the file name and table entries.

A better tactic is to Fdisk, remove partitions, create several new ones, format these, delete the partitions with Fdisk and repeat several times with different partition sizes so the partition and file tables are thoroughly screwed. Alternatively there are plenty of Safe Delete third party applications that write data to the segments that hold the original data.

Alternative approaches involving large magnets or a hammer and some aggression release are of course possible, but not ideal if you want to actually sell it as a working drive later on.

[Board Game Geek]

Short of destroying the hard drive, is there any other way for me to make sure that the data is wiped off?

They won't wipe the hard drive, but apparently if you send it to these people, it is almost guaranteed to be lost and never touched by a human ever again.