What's the best way to delete all files before donating?
 

I had a computer given to me once that was supposedly wiped clean. I found files in some boot menu guessing the first letter of the file name. Seemed like child's play to find all their porn, etc. Well, I don't want my info passed on. Fdisk or more?

I know I could keep the hard drive, but that doesn't make the donation worth much, or does it?

reformat the drive.

Even that won't stop someone motivated. If you're really paranoid, reformat the drive, then pack it FULL of non-sensitive data like mp3s or jpg files or something (so every sector is overwritten). Then you can safely erase the files and hand the drive over with no risk of anything being compromised.

Any "erase" can actually be undone by the right software to varying degrees. Even a format can to some extent. An overwrite cannot.

Thanks for that tip Jeff.

I've heard a really powerful magnet works well too. Is that true?

Thats not effective. That merely gets rid of the current file tables, you could still have readable data sitting there.

Here is a good article with links to hard drive wipe software:

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/software/page5726.cfm

I am *ahem* an expert on the subject :D

Ya gotta over-write the existing data about 7 timess before it is considered non-readable, or so I've been told.
Iffn there's stuff on it you don't want anyone to see ever, take out the hard drive and destroy it or get one of those software programs that over-writes all "empty" space over and over again until it's so muddled it's basically gone.

I never sell/donate old drives. I have a box in the garage with 10 or so that I will eventually dispose of via a sledge hammer.

Dban
 

Use Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN).

There are already two really powerful magnets inside the drive...

Take them to an outdoor range and blast them to pieces. Way, way more fun.