Sell Your Computer

How do I safely sell my computer?

Your sold or discarded computer could cost you thousands!

Formatting your hard drive DOES NOT erase your data!

Don't give away your personal information with your old PC. Over the past five years, one in four households was victimized by some type of identity theft. If you do not erase hard drive data before you sell your computer, your personal identity or company trade secrets could be stolen.

Identity thieves now target sold and discarded computers for good reason. Even a single carelessly discarded diskette could contain your entire personal identity.

Deleting a file, partitioning a disk, or formatting your hard drive will not erase hard drive data. By using WipeDrive, you can securely overwrite and erase ALL of your information, giving you the peace of mind you deserve.

How to Sell Your Computer:

1. Make a copy of all files you will want to use on your new computer.
   
   
2. Next, you need to permanently erase all data from your hard drive. WipeDrive makes it easy.
   
   
• Insert the WipeDrive CD into your CDROM drive and then restart your computer.
  
  
• You should see the WipeDrive screen shortly after you reboot.
  
  
• To wipe your drives, select option 1 from the main WipeDrive menu.
  
  
• You will then see your physical drives listed numerically.
  
  
• Select the drive you want to wipe or select the option to wipe all drives.
  
  
• You can then choose the number of overwrites to perform. One overwrite is more than sufficient for newer computers. If your computer is more than 6 years old, we recommend doing a DoD Level 2 overwrite which is three passes with a verify.
  
  
• Once you have selected the number of overwrites, answer yes to the confirmation prompts to begin the wiping process.
  
  
3. Verify that your computer is clean.
   
   
• If you want to verify that your drive is clean, you can use options 2, 3, and 4 from the main menu.
  
  
• Option 2 is a Full Verify. WipeDrive will check every sector on the drive for uncleaned sectors.
  
  
• Option 3 is a Quick Verify. WipeDrive will spot check the drive for uncleaned sectors.
  
  
• Option 4 allows you to manually view specified sectors on the drive.
  
  
4. Now go sell your computer! You can rest assured that your hard drive data cannot be retrieved.
   
   

Learn more about WipeDrive before you sell your computer

What might happen to you if you don't follow these steps before you sell your computer?

Read some of the popular articles below to find out:

• Discarded Computers Feature Story - Inside Edition
  Discarded computers, containing Social Security and tax information easily found in thrift shops, even town dumps
  
  
• Hard Drives Exposed - PC World
  Properly sanitize a hard drive before giving away or reselling a computer requires only a small investment of time and an inexpensive disk-erasing tool
  
  
• Erased Hard Drives Can Bite You - USA Today
  Imagine this chilling scenario: You buy a new PC and donate the old one to charity, knowing you've protected your privacy by deleting all your old files...Yet you later discover you're a victim of identity theft
  
  
• Harvesting Old Hard Drives - The Associated Press
  So, you think you have cleaned all your personal files from that old computer hard drive you are selling? A pair of MIT graduate students suggests you think again