After using Eraser was unsure if the important things had been deleted. Used Recuva to deep scan the "C" drive but don't recognize the files it found. Am I safe in going ahead with resale/disposal of the old PC?
The only 100% way to be sure is to remove the hard disk. Sell the PC without it. The next best way is to wipe the disk with a secure erase program, and then put back the original O/S if possible. That's how I would do it. I'm sure there are other methods and others will post about them.
Robbie, while some say that this would be safe, it depends.
Some theorize the wrong hands (government agencies, for example) can use ghost imaging that occurs below a track, or even use a layer approach to unscramble what must have been there prior.
How true this is, I do not know. I do not have their equipment to test with. I do know that very, very, very strong magnets (degaussing) or high heat is supposed to destroy the data on HDD drives. For SSD drives, you may be better with extreme heat.
I always look at it this way. If the folks that have that kind of equipment (yep, there is such a thing), then they aren't going to want piddly everyday user information. Nor is it worth the time. This type of imaging is very slow going. And time available on the equipment is always at a premium This equipment runs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and typically used in gubburment forensics.
For resale purposes, a 1 or 2 pass wipe is more than sufficient. Especially if you reinstall the o/s on top of everything. If you're concerned about script-kiddies and hackers and ID thiefs, well, this will stop them.
You have done absolutely nothing if the "Eraser" that you used was the rubber tip on a pencil.
You have merely reduced your exposure if the undefined non-specific "Eraser" was a product such as is available from
I neither endorse nor condemn that product, all I know is that it claims to run under Windows,
therefore it only attacks the deleted files that reside in "free space".
Just because you do not recognize the files that Recuva can detect does not mean that experts cannot extract valuable data
FAR MORE dangerous are the files that have NOT been deleted and which may include your banking information.
You may still have Restore Points that can include Browser caches.
There are many bits of information about your activities that Windows will copy.
You need a secure erase of the entire disc, NOT running under Windows but from a Bootable device.
For an SSD you need a special Secure Erase available from the SSD supplier
For an HDD I suggest DBAN
This program activates the internal secure erase of a modern drive. http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml
This program activates the internal secure erase of a modern drive. http://cmrr.ucsd.edu...cureErase.shtml
Caution
According to the "Readme" this only applies to magnetic media HDD.
For SSD you require something different.
I have an SSD made by OCZ who also supply Bootable ISO's etc that perform a special "Secure Erase" that takes a few seconds on an SSD, and is useless on an HDD.
If the drive does not support the Secure Erase command, the utility from CMRR will not allow you to do anything whatsoever. So they are safe there. No ambiguity.