If you’re selling your PC, donating it someone else or sending it to a charity – or even if you’re scrapping it, you should make sure that the system is 100% clean of every trace of data that could be used by someone less scrupulous.
There are paid solutions out there to achieve this – but there’s also a handy, free tool called Darik’s Boot and Nuke.
It’s free to download and use – and can be run from a CD. Just download the application and there’s an ISO in there ready to burnt by most CD burning software. Once your machine is completely clean you can do what you want with it, as there’ll be nothing linking it to you now. Of course, if you’re donating it or selling it, you might want to re-install Windows or whatever OS back on to it first.
What does their web site say about it?
Darik’s Boot and Nuke (“DBAN”) is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.
DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis.
DBAN is a free software product that can be used at home or in a business at zero cost. The only official place to obtain DBAN is by download at this web site. We do not sell DBAN media.
Download it
You can download it HERE