How to erase a hardrive while keeping sw intact?

H

HotTip

I want to sell my computer, and I'd like to keep all the software on it intact so I can sell it for more. Is there an application out there that can clean the non software related tracks on my harddrive, so that even files I supposedly deleted a long time ago no longer have any remnants on the drive?

Thanks for any help you can provide!
 
Eraser - http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ - is a utility that will remove data that you have first deleted from your hard drive. So, you must first delete anything that you don't want to share then run eraser to permanently remove it.

Eraser is a widely used free utility and its source code is released under GNU General Public License so it probably does what it says it does.
 
Quote from raystrans:

Eraser - http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ - is a utility that will remove data that you have first deleted from your hard drive. So, you must first delete anything that you don't want to share then run eraser to permanently remove it.

Eraser is a widely used free utility and its source code is released under GNU General Public License so it probably does what it says it does.
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Thanks raystrans. Will eraser also work if I've already emptied out my recycle bin and no longer have a pointer to those files I want erased?
 
Quote from HotTip:

Thanks raystrans. Will eraser also work if I've already emptied out my recycle bin and no longer have a pointer to those files I want erased?
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Yes it will. Eraser will overwrite all areas of the disk that are not marked "in use". Actually there are several choices, you can have Eraser erase just the empty areas of the hard drive, or you can choose specific folders/files and have Eraser delete and then erase those. It will also erase the contents of the recycle bin.
 
why dont you fill the reamaining space with large data like a dvd rip until all the remaining space is used. then you could simply delete this when done to be back to where you started...but with the knowledge that all previous data is absolulely gone for good
 
No one sells older computers.................you give them away.

many high schools, grammer schools will be more than happy to take the outdated relic off your hands.

Never heard anyone selling old puters. :p
 
Quote from bighog:

No one sells older computers.................you give them away.

many high schools, grammer schools will be more than happy to take the outdated relic off your hands.

Never heard anyone selling old puters. :p
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Shoot... can't even GIVE my eMachines trading computer away... :D
 
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