I get what you’re saying but OP said they wanted to donate the PC. If you’re got enough time will, time, and money, you’ll get the data off the drive. That’s why I don’t recommend including the drive at all.
Instead, I recommend that they simply remove the drive before donating it. That way, there is no possibility the person who gets the donated pc will get a hold of the drive or the data on it.
Whenever I get a pc from a thrift store or whatever, I always remove and destroy the hard disk if it has one before I even power it on.
When I donated my last computer to a PC shop they asked me to remove the drive first before they would take it. I could always use the drive after formatting for a backup drive. Presuming you have already moved the old data to your new hard drive.
I get what you’re saying but OP said they wanted to donate the PC. If you’re got enough time will, time, and money, you’ll get the data off the drive. That’s why I don’t recommend including the drive at all.
Instead, I recommend that they simply remove the drive before donating it. That way, there is no possibility the person who gets the donated pc will get a hold of the drive or the data on it.
Whenever I get a pc from a thrift store or whatever, I always remove and destroy the hard disk if it has one before I even power it on.
What data are you worried about being recovered? Why would anyone care to recover it? What’s the absolute maximum damage said data could do?
I can say for me the answer would be.
When I donated my last computer to a PC shop they asked me to remove the drive first before they would take it. I could always use the drive after formatting for a backup drive. Presuming you have already moved the old data to your new hard drive.