Wiping computer harddrives

[none2848]

I want to sell my laptop and my desktop, and I have some private information on both machines. One is a Dell laptop the other is a custom made desktop. Could I completely remove all information on the harddrives or do I need to buy new harddrives and new operating systems for both?

 

[G35x]

You have to reformat..

 

[none2848]

If I use software to reformat (write the drive to zeros) is the information totally gone?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Kill Disk will do that, but I hear it's a long process to do.

http://www.killdisk.com/

 

[Jamxx]

That little piece of software is good. Does what it says. It'll take some time, though... Make sure you won't need your drive for a few days. Depending on the size of the drive, it could take from half a day to a week, probably.

 

[Gamingfreak]

ive heard good things about this http://dban.sourceforge.net/ and it probably wont take days like the other program posted