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Securely delete all personal data from HDD without wiping Windows off?

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immersion

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Feb 15, 2006
I have a laptop that I'm getting replaced but I don't want to send it in with all my data on it. Is it safe to manually delete all personal data off the HDD using a program like Acronis Privacy Expert Suite 9.0, but leaving windows in tact? I don't want to wipe the entire drive because it's a Gateway and if I wipe it, it might not allow the drive to reinstall via the restore disk that came with it. I just wounder if by using Acronis Privacy Expert Suite 9.0 I can wipe all my personal data on the HDD and make it unrecoverable. Thanks for the help!
 
Never heard of that program, but only personal information i think you could have would be in cookies on your web browser, your buddy lists on IM programs, your address book for your email, and stuff in My Documents... But safest way to make sure there is nothing left is just to reinstall windows.
 
Acronis has a strong product base but beyond that I'm no familiar with that program.

What you need to do is after you run any of those cleaner programs is get into your advanced search and starting looking at stuff like *.doc and *.pdf, etc. Make sure you make all files and folders viewable.

Look at your program files and get rid of backups and files for stuff like MS Money. Just spend some time poking around in your drive. search for your name and ssn and anything you can think of that u use you dont want out*.avi?

The free program Ccleaner will do a good job of cleaning out your history, cookies and that type of viewable data.

Then run a wipe program on unused drive space.

I don't know your sit, where this lappy is going but if it is back to gateway I doubt they will fish, but no telling who will end up with that drive.


Even reinstalling/formating out windows will not kill all traces of what is/was on that drive but surely is safest bet. Best is do the reinstall and then run a good wipe on unused space.

Edit: Dont forget to wipe your restore points if using. What if you wipe all that stuff and someone just does a system restore?
 
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What do you intend to do with the laptop? If just sending it back to Gateway for warrenty service I doubt they would care if you formatted the drive. Also most of the time the recovery partition is not the same as the OS partition. So doing a zero fill on the OS partition and then doing a recovery operation shouldn't be a problem.

If you intend to sell or give the laptop away then you have another option. You can do a recovery to get it in the state as it was bought. Then copy that image to a CD or DVD. Then use a disk wiping program to your satisfaction to remove any and all data beyond possibility of recovery. Then restore from the partition on CD/DVD.

Really depends on what you are doing with the laptop.
 
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