Format hard drive before sale?

Want to sell a laptop. Didn't have any sensitive things on it and would own it. Simply reset to factory settings with Windows 10 and delete my data.

Would it even make any difference if I format the hard drive and reinstall Windows 10? Or could my data be restored in the same way afterwards?

The following only applies to HDD, with SSD it looks a little different:

If you don't choose the quick format, the content is gone after formatting.

Simply resetting is not enough, nor is quick formatting (this only resets the file structure, the data blocks retain their contents, so that parts of the data can be restored with a certain amount of effort).

Then goes the same way.

It is best to run a round of Dban over it or a Linux live system with a data shredder.

It's not super safe with SSDs, but simple tools like Recuva or the like won't find anything.

Then goes the same way.

So can I actually save it? The likelihood that anyone will try that is low enough anyway. I didn't have anything sensitive on it either. I don't feel like chasing any tools over it now.

Is just as easy to restore the data. Every freeware tool can do that. However, you can wipe the plate once after Windows has been reset. For this purpose, the CCleaner can be used, for example, and then set overwriting 3x or 7x in the "drive wiper" area. It takes time, but it's always better than formatting, normal tools won't find anything afterwards.

The safest thing is still not to sell the hard drive in the first place.

Thank you!

PS: I would boot with a Knoppix USB stick and then run "badblocks -svw / dev / sda", for example. Then the disk is definitely empty and you also know whether all blocks are still in order (unless the disk then reallocates the affected blocks).

A Windows setup then only sees an "unused" disk because it is completely empty because the partition table is also destroyed.

I wouldn't classify the probability as particularly low, but if you don't want to let anything else go over it, then simply format without the quick formatting.

Btw I always find it difficult to say that you had nothing sensitive to it. After all, passwords to websites etc. Are also sensitive data and you should therefore never have logged into a website with the laptop or the password on the laptop should also be unique and you should not use it anywhere else.

I advise you to read through https://www.chip.de/...40355.html. The reason and the possibilities are explained there, as well as the corresponding software for download.

It depends on what type of hard drive you are using. It always makes sense to transfer SSDs once with an appropriate tool, HDDs about 5 times, then the data can no longer be restored.

If a registered Microsoft account was also used that is a very sensitive part!