A Modern Computer Problem

[jow104]

I purchased a new computer 15 months ago and never disposed of the old model at the time. I was always intending to keep the box as a stand by.
However things were getting overloaded in our small home (buying too many goodies) I put the computer up for sale in the local paper free adds.
I got a bite the very next day (plus another 4 within 48 hours) and sold the computer to 3 Polish boys (they were computer literate types) who have come over from the mainland now they are EC members.
The next day after selling the computer there was a TV news item warning people to be careful how they dispose of their old computers because there is a racket. The racket is stolen identies. This information is on your harddrive,i.e. creditit card transactions,and other things. It appears its no good just formatting the hard drive experienced computer users can still get at info on your hard drive.
There is some software around that supposed to wipe out info but knowing the virus industry it wont be long before hackers crack this softweare?
I have telephoned my credit card company and they are issueing new card numbers.
It looks to me if the hard drives will have tobe removed when selling on a computer

I posted this same thread on a U.K. woodwork forum and thought you nice OZZIE fellows might like to hear of my experience.

[Sturdee]

Yes, it is not too difficult to get information from a reformatted hard drive.

Sell it without the hard drive, and then open it up and remove the two rare earth magnets. Always handy in the shop.


Peter.

[GeoffS]

Never ever dispose of hard disks, floppies, CDs or DVDs without destroying them or wiping them clean.
Floppies, CDs and DVDs are easy - a blow lamp or gas burner will fix them. Careful - they may explode, wear safety glasses.
Hard disks which may still be useable present more of a problem.
There is software available which will remove all the data from any disk drive. Shareware such as 'DriveScrubber' ($US29.00). All the data is completely removed. This is not ideal if you want to leave the operating system on the drive. Generally not legal but frequently done. There are other programs which will remove specific files, but it is very difficult to know what to delete. The operating system itself may contain private data - Windows does.
All these progams use methods which make it impossible to restore the data, some of the methods used involve overwriting the data with rubbish. If the correct methods are used it is impossible to restore the old data - it DOES NOT EXIST. There is no way it can be found 'under the new data', it just isn't there.
Personally - I never sell an old system with anything on the hard drive. If the buyer can't provide an operating system, too bad.
Cheers

[DavidG]

I have found that 2 by 3" nails driven through the hard drive makes the data no longer accessible. :eek:
I have never let a hard drive leave here in a usable form.

[vsquizz]

Program called "System Mechanic" has a cleaner/incinerator which will do the job IF you set it up right.

Cheers

[GeoffS]

David-G - You would be surprised at how much info a determined person could get off a drive that had nails driven through it. Remove the platters, straighten them out and bingo - most of the info is still there.
If I have a drive that is unuseable and I want to destroy the data I use the same method as for CDs etc. Remove the platters and apply HEAT. Lift the surface off the platter and bend and wreck them!! There is probably no perfect way at that point, somebody with enough nous and the right machinery could probably find something on them.
Just think what was achieved after 9/11. Cost a mint (or two) and used 1000's of manhours but an amazing amount of data was retrieved from the computers that could be found.
Cheers

[jow104]

I think I have solved my own problem.
Remove the hard drive from old computer and install it in the new model.
Put the new harddrive in the old computer and there should be nothing.

That will beat them

[Barry_White]

I think I have solved my own problem.
Remove the hard drive from old computer and install it in the new model.
Put the new harddrive in the old computer and there should be nothing.

That will beat them

I think thats a retrograde step putting your old hard drive in in your new computer. Should be easier enough to buy a secondhand hard drive to put in the computer you want to sell.

[davo453]

I think I have solved my own problem.
Remove the hard drive from old computer and install it in the new model.
Put the new harddrive in the old computer and there should be nothing.

If you do that your restricting the hardware on the new computer as newer hard drives are always quicker.

Also most hard drives have a useful life (depending on actual use) of around 5 years, after that they can get a bit flaky, luck of the draw though really.

Cheers

Dave

[Suresh]

Sturdee,
I have a couple of old puters at home that I will be putting in the recycling, how do I find these magnets, are they part of the hard drive.
Suresh

[Grunt]

While thieves can get your credit card details from a dead hard drive, it is a frick of a lot of work. It is much easier for them to get your credit card details from the restaurant that you went to last night.

If thieves really want to get access to your details on a computer they'll steal the computer and get the details from a working computer.

If you are paranoid about this and you want to protect your information, the best method is to use a hard drive encryption program. These programs encrypt the data as it is being written to the hard drive. As the computer starts up, it asks you for a password. No password, no look see.

There is a whole swag of these on the market. Here is the list from tucows.

http://www.tucows.com/fileencryption95_default.html

Grunt

[Little Festo]

What about a low level reformat of the drive where each sector is reformated?? Takes quie a bit of time to do but should work - ?? Can any computer gurus comment if this would work.

Peter

[q9]

Actually I think you are all missing the point a bit. No one can get what isn't there...this computer here has a smattering of files with my actual name in it, but nothing else. You might find a postal address if you are lucky.

All hard drive manufacturers have wiping utilities available (free!) on their web sites.

[Sturdee]

Sturdee,
I have a couple of old puters at home that I will be putting in the recycling, how do I find these magnets, are they part of the hard drive.
Suresh

Yes they are part of the hard drive.

Wayne Davey's post on it alerted me to them see http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ead.php?t=9066 for details.


Peter.

[HappyHammer]

A simple method without having to buy tools is to delete everything, re-install OS and then copy useless crap onto the hard drive until full. When a new file is written to space on a disk it completely removes anything previously occupying the space.

HH.