Wiping Your Computer Hard Drive

How do you completely wipe your computer hard drive of personal information before donating or selling it? The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality says:

  • Simply deleting files from your hard drive may not permanently erase that information
  • If you don’t want to physically destroy your hard drive, you should overwrite the data.
  • To overwrite, try using the installation CD that came with your computer.
  • Installation CDs from popular manufacturers like Windows and Microsoft come with tools that can overwrite data on the drive.
  • In addition, software programs from websites like www.killdisk.com can overwrite your personal information.

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