Using Shred on the HD of an XP computer I'm about to retire

[pschroeter]

I'm thinking of using the Shred function in xplorer²’ to wipe a hard drive of an Windows XP computer I getting ready to retire. I don’t think I need to shred everything but is everything outside the Windows and Programs folders safe to erase?

[nikos]

mostly you want to get rid of your documents, so just concentrate on MyDocuments folder and below. Note that x2-shred isn't 100% secure against CSI or the FBI

[fgagnon]

What I do with my old drives is remove them from the computer being discarded, perform a low-level reformat on them, and save them for future possible use to repair or augment storage in friends and family computers. If the drive is really old, making grinding noises, or very small capacity (less than 40GB) -- after reformatting it, I put it back in the computer before taking the computer to a recycling depot (such as Best Buy in the US).
To use the drive outside the box (including reformatting), I use an IDE to USB adapter -- there are many to choose from.
They are inexpensive an indispensable for the task.
FYI, The one I have been using for years is the Vantec CB-ISATAU2.