How to format laptop clean? Is this the right word? <SOLVED>

[AndyP79]

Hi Ya'll,
Just wondering if anyone might have any ideas on formating my laptop? I tend to reload and do fresh installs quite a bit, and was thinking after a couple of years of doing this if I should have my harddrive wiped completly clean so I get a good install nice and smooth. Or is this not a factor in Linux? I have always heard that even when you reload a little shadow of what was on your drive stays there?? Is this true?

[Biker]

Yes, there are forensic tools that can retrieve data, even if it's been overwritten. However, a plain old regular format will suffice to get your hard drive prepared for new installations.

[randomizer]

With a modern hard disk a simple zero fill or random data fill is enough to make it difficult to retrieve data with all but the best forensic tools. You can always do it more than once but it's not necessary unless you've got highly sensitive data on the disk that may make you extra paranoid. For performance purposes there's no real reason to do anything other than wipe the partition table (ie. quick format), as long as you're using a platter HDD and not an SSD. If using an SSD then you'll want to make sure you reset all cells to a 1 else you'll have performance losses.

[AndyP79]

Thanks Ya'll, I guess then from what you say, I don't really need to worry about it. I just use my laptop for home use and don't have work or other sensitive data on it. I guess that when I reload and choose the box to erase everything on the hard drive it does it's job then.
Thanks again.