[Freeview Novice]

I'm awaiting delivery of a new PC. When I've transferred all my stuff, I'll be looking to sell my old one.
I will of course delete all my personal stuff, and then overwrite the deleted areas using CEZEO Disk Redactor - a free bit of software I learned about on this forum 3 years ago. Is this still the recommended solution? Any advice or comments appreciated.

[chrisjr]

If you have a recovery option with the PC, either a set of disks or a partition on the hard drive then use that to wipe the disk drive and restore it to factory condition. Or if you have a Windows install disk use that to wipe the disk and re-install Windows from scratch.

Doing this will ensure that anything you have missed will be deleted. You can still use the other software to zap the free space afterwards.

[Maxatoria]

The best way is to buy another drive and slap windows on it and job done as if theres any data recoverable its not yours

But generally a swift run over with DBAN and reinstalling the OS afterwards will guarantee that theres nothing left to recover and while you think you've deleted all your stuff its amazing what can be left behind so DBAN the drive and reinstall windows its quick/painless and you'll be happy knowing that theres no chance of something hanging in the corner

[Stig]

Originally Posted by Freeview Novice

I'm awaiting delivery of a new PC. When I've transferred all my stuff, I'll be looking to sell my old one.
I will of course delete all my personal stuff, and then overwrite the deleted areas using CEZEO Disk Redactor - a free bit of software I learned about on this forum 3 years ago. Is this still the recommended solution? Any advice or comments appreciated.

Reinstall Windows using a factory restore or the Windows DVD. Then run Dban, Eraser or some such.

[Maxatoria]

Running DBAN after a factory restore is a bit daft

[LION8TIGER]

I haven't used DBAN but I think a factory restore followed by Eraser or Ccleaner to wipe free space is the way I would do it.

[Freeview Novice]

Thanks for comments. I had the disk with Vista on it, so did a clean reinstall of the OS as suggested above. Seems fine - no trace of any files or programs. Should I still run DBAN? Opinion seems to be mixed on whether I need to do this after a factory restore!

[RobinOfLoxley]

Only if DBAN allows wiping of 'empty' space, you don't want to wipe the whole disk with Vista freshly restored.

Ccleaner definitely allows this option (Install and run then click Tools/Drivewiper).
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

[anniebrion]

Originally Posted by Freeview Novice

Thanks for comments. I had the disk with Vista on it, so did a clean reinstall of the OS as suggested above. Seems fine - no trace of any files or programs. Should I still run DBAN? Opinion seems to be mixed on whether I need to do this after a factory restore!

Try using http:recuva.com you'll see that loads of files are still recoverable unless you overwrite all the HDD space.

You should do a single overwrite (any more than a single pass just wastes time and electricity) of the entire system partition, then do a factory reset.