Need To Reformat Hard Drive Reload Windows.

[BngkkB]

I bought a Gateway Notebook a couple of years ago in the US. It came preloaded with Windows Vista. It did not come with back up disk, I have to make my own. I have since upgraded the Vista to Windows 7 then again to Windows 7 Ultimate. I now want to give it to my sister in law, but I want to make sure all my data is off the hard drive.

1) I am assuming that I will need to reformat the Hard drive a couple of times to make sure all the old data is off the drives.?

2) After I reformat the Hard drive I will have to re-load Windows Vista then upgrade it again to Windows 7, then upgrade it again to Ultimate?

My questions are?

A) Am I correct in assuming that I will have to go through steps 1 & 2 above?

If I do what is the best way to do it, making the back up of Vista and re-installing it?

C) Is there another easier way to delete all the data on my hard drive except the operating system?

Thank you in advance for any and all help.

[cdnvic]

You can use a free tool like Eraser to thoroughly shred the info on the drive. Unless your sister-in-law works for the CIA, the data will be pretty much gone.

[astral]

Unless you have extremely sensitive data on the disk

then a simple format and re-install is all you need.