Wiping a hard disk clean

messiahmessiah
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I've just upgraded the hard drive in one of my machines, and I've sold the old drive on eBay.



I want to make sure that the drive I've sold is absolutely sterile clean before I ship it to the buyer. The drive used to have various bits of personal information on it including my portfolio and various accounts/banking details.



Is Disk Utility's "Zero all data" option secure enough, or should I be using the "Random data x8" option?



I started the random data option, and it's taken about 12 hours to format an eighth of the drive so far - GULP!



Any suggestions, anyone?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    talksense101talksense101 Posts: 1,738member
    If you want to safeguard your information, the Random x 8 option is the only way to do it.
  • Reply 2 of 4
    talksense101talksense101 Posts: 1,738member
    I TOLD YOU SO
  • Reply 3 of 4
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member
    GULP!



    Random x 8 it is then!
  • Reply 4 of 4
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    i tried random x8 once the last time i reinstalled my computer back in june, and the progress bar HADN'T MOVED overnight while i slept. plus, i am wary of doing such an overwrite... can't that much data-writing wear down your disk artificially fast?
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