What’s the best way to erase all your personal data from an old PC before you donate it or recycle it?

Even if you delete every file from your computer and empty its recycle bin, there’s still plenty of private and confidential information that anyone with enough time and money can retrieve. And reformatting the drive doesn’t protect your data from those unscrupulous crackers with the right software.

There are many documented incidents of old computers, containing confidential information, winding up on the shelves of resellers or online auction houses.

So, what’s a person to do? Although you may be tempted to introduce a really large hammer to a hard drive to render the data it contains useless, physically destroying a drive is harder than you’d think. Less draconian measures are called for.

The Department of Defense uses a degausser to remove all magnetism from a drive, but at a cost of thousands of dollars, it’s not a practical solution for individuals. According to PC World, the only sure way for the average computer owner to remove data from a drive is to overwrite it.

There are many products available, some of them free, for erasing your drive. Once cleaned, your old machine is ready to become a valuable donation.