# Completely Erase Hard Drive?
**URL:** https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449
**Category:** random
**Created:** [May 15, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449 "2008-05-15T18:09:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jillymo](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/jillymo)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/1 "2008-05-15T18:09:13Z")
I have an older pc that I am thinking about putting on ebay or in a moving sale and am a little unsure about “Erasing the hard drive” will this remove the operating system as well?
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### Author:  [@Syous](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Syous)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/2 "2008-05-15T18:09:53Z")
It sure will.
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### Author:  [@Templarian](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Templarian)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/3 "2008-05-15T18:11:33Z")
Yes it will remove the operating system.
If you are selling a computer with its orginal hard drive that you have used on ebay then you will want to enter Bios and select Write to Zeros. This will completely destroy all data on the disc. If you do it like 5 times not even CSI will be able to read the thing.
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### Author:  [@jillymo](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/jillymo)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/4 "2008-05-15T18:14:21Z")
OK thank you - could you please elaborate on the bios? How do I get there and is this all that I need to do to make sure someone does not get my info of the pc?
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### Author:  [@Templarian](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Templarian)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/5 "2008-05-15T18:17:12Z")
It depends on the computer. Del is the most common to enter bios. Usually the computer tells you want to hold down right when it starts up to enter bios/setup ect.
If you do not have a option like that and have a floppy you can burn the utilities disc for your hard drive (you get it off their site, and that will usually always have a write to zeros… come to think of it i doubt common motherboard would have the option as its not reversible, and thus not something a manufacture would want their customers doing).
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### Author:  [@Seb\_Hughes](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Seb_Hughes)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/6 "2008-05-15T18:32:00Z")
You can never delete the stuff off the hardrive, no matter how hard you try but 32 passes is recommened by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutmann\_method](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutmann_method)
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### Author:  [@jillymo](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/jillymo)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/7 "2008-05-15T18:41:38Z")
maybe I am just better off selling parts…
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### Author:  [@Templarian](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Templarian)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/8 "2008-05-15T18:44:44Z")
^If you write to zeros no conventional technology can get stuff from the hard drive anymore.
Seb is just exaggerating, lol. A single pass with zeros will stop even the most experienced data recovers. If you want to sell it without a hard drive though go for it.
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### Author:  [@Seb\_Hughes](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Seb_Hughes)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/9 "2008-05-15T18:51:14Z")
[QUOTE=Templarian;2326754]^If you write to zeros no conventional technology can get stuff from the hard drive anymore.
Seb is just exaggerating, lol. A single pass with zeros will stop even the most experienced data recovers. If you want to sell it without a hard drive though go for it.[/QUOTE]
I doubt one pass would do much.
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### Author:  [@glosrfc](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/glosrfc)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/10 "2008-05-15T19:24:08Z")
Introduce your hard drive to a seriously strong magnet.
32 passes? That is very extreme - one will defeat the vast majority of people and 5 will defeat all bar some geek kids lurking in a CIA basement.
Rather than mess about with the BIOS, just download something like this:
[http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/](http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/)
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### Author:  [@jillymo](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/jillymo)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/11 "2008-05-15T19:52:07Z")
so this one will leave the os?
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### Author:  [@Seb\_Hughes](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Seb_Hughes)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/12 "2008-05-15T20:02:53Z")
^Every method to rid of the data, will rid of the OS. You will need to reformat and reinstall it.
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### Author:  [@fasterthanlight](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/fasterthanlight)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/13 "2008-05-15T20:08:49Z")
yes its a two step process
erase
install
not much more beyond taht
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### Author:  [@twdesignz06](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/twdesignz06)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/14 "2008-05-15T20:18:36Z")
One of the IT guys here at work said they have this magnet-type thing they use to wipe hard drives…I forgot what it’s called but supposedly it wipes the hard drives in like 5-10 seconds.
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### Author:  [@jillymo](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/jillymo)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/15 "2008-05-15T20:26:22Z")
okay thanks
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### Author:  [@glosrfc](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/glosrfc)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/16 "2008-05-15T21:46:39Z")
It’s called a 14lb lump-hammer
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### Author:  [@Theros](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Theros)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/17 "2008-05-15T22:45:17Z")
You just hit the (literal) nail in the coffin. Good job.
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### Author:  [@Esherido](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Esherido)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2008, 10:54pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/18 "2008-05-15T22:54:13Z")
One word: [[U]dban[/U]](http://dban.sourceforge.net/)
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### Author:  [@indiasfinest](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/indiasfinest)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/19 "2008-05-17T02:49:35Z")
> [@Esherido;2326896](#):
>
> One word: [[U]dban[/U]](http://dban.sourceforge.net/)
I second that, exactly what I used
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### Author:  [@ajcates](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/ajcates)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2008, 9:45am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/completely-erase-hard-drive/260449/20 "2008-05-17T09:45:01Z")
I use one of these.
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