new dell 640m being sent back hard drive has some of my personal data on it

Question

I have some personal data - alreay in the my documents area of a laptop that is being returned due to a defective wirless card  any suggestions ?    can i format the hard drive or just delete the files ?

davejohn · Answer

See http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/securedelete.shtml.  There are several free tools for securely deleting files or wiping the whole drive.   Dave

Bay Wolf · Answer

I would just remove the hard drive and then send in your notebook for repair.  Then your data will be secure.  Dell does not need your hard drive to replace the wireless card.

bamabass.com · Answer

thanks for the options and ideas

rickmktg · Answer

bamabass.com wrote:

I have some personal data - alreay in the my documents area of a laptop that is being returned due to a defective wirless card any suggestions ?

can i format the hard drive or just delete the files ?

If it's being returned and not repaired, hit CTRL F11 on reboot to make it "as shipped".

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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