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["Scott G. Hall" <ScottGHall AT BellSouth.Net>]

Scott wrote:
> On Aug 28, 2010, at 4:57 PM, <cmccarthy1 AT nc.rr.com> wrote:
>> I want to give a PC to someone, but want to wipe everything off the hard
>> drive before I do it.  I think that the Norton Ghost product can do this
>> and also offers a backup option.
> 
> For Windows uses I would suggest the built in Windows 7 backups. You
> could easily back up your files to an external USB hard drive using the
> Windows 7 backup feature. It's configurable so that if needed you can
> select the folder where your outlook .pst files are and ensure it gets
> backed up.
> 

I'm going to disagree.  Never use Windows 7 backup -- it is horribly
unreliable and next to impossible to restore anything (see news around the
internet).  Your best best is to boot to a live Linux CD and run "wipe" or
"shread" or "dban".  See this article: "Wiping your disk drive clean",
http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/135944,  and this article:
"How to securely erase the hard disk before selling ones computer",
http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-to-securely-erase-hard-disk-before.html

If you want to backup the disk before wiping it, the same Live Linux CD
allows you to use Linux's "dd" command to completely clone the original
harddisk to another disk, with far more recoverable results than Norton Ghost.
Or you can use "rsync" to copy selective files to a second harddisk
(Make sure to copy off everything under {orig.harddisk}/Documents and 
Settings/)

HOWEVER!: Best method would be put a fresh harddisk in the PC (you can
get 500GB ones for ~$40), removing the original harddisk, and using the
original recovery CDs to install the original OS on the new harddisk.
(You might need to boot into recovery mode and create these CDs before
you install the new harddisk)  Then get an external USB drive case and
mount the old harddisk in it.  This way you don't have to worry about
wiping, and the files on the old drive would be available to just about
any machine you chose.

An older harddisk has some time and wear on it.  A newer harddisk is just
a more reliable solution to the person you are giving the PC to.

-- 
Scott G. Hall
Raleigh, NC, USA
ScottGHall AT BellSouth.Net