Pre-loved PC - advice required

Having recently put together a new PC, the old one is surplus to
requirements.

It's getting on for 4 years old - I put it together from an
Ebuyer/Scan/similar bundle which consisted of case, PSU, mobo and CPU.
I just added disk drives and memory. Spec is:

Tower case
AMD Sempron 2600+ @1.83Mhz
1 GB RAM
80 GB disk
Radeon 9250 GPX
Onboard sound
Onboard 100Mbit network
8 x USB ports (6 rear, 2 front)

It's obviously well out of date, but still very functional for normal
office and internet activities.

Firstly, does anyone here want it. Make me an offer.

Secondly - if I eBay it, should format the hard disk, or sell it as a
running machine the an O/S on it? Which ties in with my second
question: I've got a genuine XP Home CD - should I sell that with the
machine?

 

Id secure wipe the disk, use DBAN or similar to do so.

Sell the machine blank, but include the XP Home CD with it so the end
user can do the install themselves. Unless they are completely clueless
and request that you do it for them.

Everyone installs differently, so what you do might be wiped anyhow.

It prolly wont get much on Ebay, you might be better doing a local free
classifieds for that kind of thing.

--
Gavin.

For the road: GSXR600K1
For the track: <gone>
Current project: Peugeot Speedfight 2
For everything else: Citroën Berlingo

MSN:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk

 

Seems reasonable advice. Cheers

I was going to start it at 9.99. I thought it might fetch 50 quid.

 

Unfortunately this would make it almost un-fleabayable. I've just had
this experience with a server that was in decent nick...

If you want to sell it on ebay, possibly yes. I'd be tempted to split
the two as you might end up having to freecycle the machine and in that
case I'd just stick Linux on it and get a couple of quid for the OS
separately. I would definitely stick *an* OS on it and preferably make
sure that I take a photo of the machine with a monitor hooked up to show
it's alive.

I'd format the HDD - another reason for the Linux install as it'll wipe
the Windows data off properly - and leave it at that. You don't gain
much from the "secure format" software these days if you do use a
regular format as opposed to a quick format. Yes, a pro data recovery
outfit might still be able to recover some of the data but Joe Bloggs
won't.

 

I know a few people that do it to disks as a matter of course. You never
know where the drives going to end up - why take the risk. A DOD wipe
only takes a few hours just let it run overnight.


--
Gavin.

For the road: GSXR600K1
For the track: <gone>
Current project: Peugeot Speedfight 2
For everything else: Citroën Berlingo

MSN:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk

 

And how much more secure is this wipe going to be, given that those
organisations who give two hoots about security actually destroy the
disks?

 

Erm, very. We do disk recovery. We have tried a DOD wipe/ recover and
was unable. You might be able to with a forensic disk recovery method,
but I think it unlikly, and youd have to be pretty determined as that
costs LOADS.

Your right though - big orgs destroy the platters (I know the US govt.
melt them down).

--
Gavin.

For the road: GSXR600K1
For the track: <gone>
Current project: Peugeot Speedfight 2
For everything else: Citroën Berlingo

MSN:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk

 

werrlll. Like I (a client) paid *thousands* to Vogon to try and get some
data of an ext3 RAID that someone had deleted.

Vogon failed rather dismally.

OTOH I got the same image that they had and got > 95% of the files back
with a piece of software that cost be $45.

There is some damned powerful stuff out there, but if people are just
trying it on, they'll go for the easy targets.

Take disc, plug into caddy, check for recoverable files.

1) Is it going to be simple? carry on
2) Is it not going to be simple? Throw disc and go to the next in the
pile of several hundred that you bought in Hydrabad.

No it's not *really* secure, but 'our' data is not *really* worth that
much effort.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

At BAe, we used to hake a hammer to our HDA's. Huge 12" 600Mb
platters.

Jumpers for goalposts ...

Paul.

 

That's a good sign. Any comparable data point, say, a Windows disk
reformatted using another OS (and properly formatted, not "quick
format") to see if it does increase security noticeably?

Yup. My thinking was more "what do I need to do to deter the common
opportunist".

 

From experience it's a POP. Seriously. Last time I tried, 100% success.
Granted that was from a format, oh bollox, recover as opposed to a
format, re-install, use, oh bollox, recover IYSWIM.

See above.


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

We have successfully done a partial recovery off a formatted disk. There
are lots of variants though, and something like a NTFS to EXT3 format
might well be a lot harder to do so with.

And the answer is, a DOD wipe, or destroy the disk/


--
Gavin.

For the road: GSXR600K1
For the track: <gone>
Current project: Peugeot Speedfight 2
For everything else: Citroën Berlingo

MSN:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk

 

Is right. We always tell people, if you **** the disk up, leave it alone
until recovery time.

The more you use it, write to it, the less likely you are to get 100%
usable data back.

Usually though, as described above, you can restore the majority.


--
Gavin.

For the road: GSXR600K1
For the track: <gone>
Current project: Peugeot Speedfight 2
For everything else: Citroën Berlingo

MSN:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby
Blog: http://www.stoof.co.uk

 

I'll give you £50 for it with the XP disk. My PC is getting slower and
slower despite numerous defrags and removal of software.


--
Malc

Rusted and ropy.
Dog-eared old copy.
Vintage and classic,
or just plain Jurassic:
all words to describe me.

 

/dev/zero is your friend.

 

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