Wiping hard drive vs factory restore?

Factory restore simply puts it back to the normal, bought condition software wise.

Wiping hard drive gets rid of everything (usually, it wipes EVERYTHING, so you can't do a FR)

However, factory restore doesn't actually get rid of anything. It "deletes" files by removing the addresses to the files in question. Basically, the items are still "there," and technically retrievable, but it'll take someone really dedicated to recover the files (some programs can retrieve stuff, but they don't work for everything). I personally wouldn't worry about someone going through the trouble of retrieving personal information; if you're really worried, there are programs that delete everything on your HDD without an address to it (so "existing" files will remain untouched).

Heres a link to something like that:

http://techblissonline.com/how-to-erase-hard-drive...

Only the most skilled/equipped technician can recover after a doing a factory restore. I'd not sweat it. If your extra paranoid you can do a Dpt of Defense (DOD) wipe. Free at http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/downloads/dod_w...

Then do the factory restore.

Its better to wipe everything before you sell it.

If you don't have your OS installation disk separately, then use tools like TuneUp Shredder in TuneUp utilities to erase your files on all drives without a trace.

If you have the installation files on CD/DVD, then go to your hard drive manufacturer website and get disk management tools and perform a zero filling on your drive.

Note: Zero filling takes a long time depending on your hard drive capacity.

Hope this helps.

if you don't know how to wipe it clean, don't sweat it, just do factory restore, will be ok.

deleting the previous device and setting up the hot one makes it greater effectual understanding that it incredibly is freed from intruders after reinstall do no longer circulate on line with it permit the hot proprietor be the 1st