[X-Newbies] Erase contents of hard disc

[Michael Burton]

On Apr 8, 2011, at 2:39 PM, Keith Mills wrote:

> Thank you all. I can even switch it on and off. Now that the disc is out, all that I get when it comes back on is an alternating (very small) flashing question mark and insignia in the centre of the screen. Nothing else. 
> 
> I had already done the install and restore process.

The flashing question mark indicates that the computer can't find a volume to boot from. Either the install process didn't take, or you erased the disk after running the install.

> Is it safe to dispose of? My wife is sick of it sitting on the freezer un the kitchen. Quite honestly, I know nobody who wants it and my plan was simply to get rid of it at the local tip

I think it's safe IF you erased the disk with a security option of "Zero Out Data" or higher. Otherwise, some of your data may be recoverable by malicious people, and I would worry that people fishing old computers from the rubbish may be just those kinds of malicious people.

It all depends on how paranoid you want to be. My advice: If you haven't yet done an erase operation with that security option, run it just once more with "Zero Out Data" set. Then you can relax, and your wife can relax too.

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Michael Burton     michaelburton at brainrow.com     (614) 263-7948
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