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If you take out the hard drive on a computer is there any other component that stores memory?

I have a 2005 HP desktop computer that I need to get rid of. I'm going to take out the hard drive out of it and sell it or give it to my cousin. Is there any other part that I should take out or does the hard drive store everything? I don't want anybody to get my information. When I sell "it" i mean the monitor and tower, not the hard drive.

Public Comments

1. The Hard Drive is the only thing that stores your files and windows system files. Make sure you back up your data first and before you give it to him have the hard drive formated and then he can put it in his computer. Hope this helps. (OPTIONAL) You can take the memory out and store it for any later use. Memory lookes like little sticks of computer chips put in to slots.
2. Removing the Hard Drive will solve your concerns. The computers RAM can temporarily store personal information, but unplugging the computer will wipe that out. You could however, use a utility like DBAN to wipe the hard drive clean before selling it. In this way the computer still has a hard drive for the next person to use. Would even better if you re-installed Windows (or whatever) on it afterwards so the person can see the computer working.
3. You shouldn't remove the hard drive unless you have the original recovery CDs that came with the computer, so whoever gets it next can reinstall Windows. As long as you give away those CDs with the computer, they can put a new drive in and it's fine. But legally the copy of Windows must go along with the computer when it's sold. To make sure none of your information is at risk, you can either: 1) Keep the hard drive (see restrictions above) 2) Wipe the hard drive with a disk scrubbing utility.... Or use DBAN, followed by reinstalling Windows from the recovery CDs (of course the new owner can do that) Newer HP computers didn't come with recovery CDs, the recovery program was stored on a special partition of the hard drive- so removing it removes the only method of reinstalling Windows. In that case, you'd want perform a system recovery to reinstall Windows (it will reformat the C: drive). After that's done, use a disk scrubber to wipe all of the unused space so none of your files or information could be retrieved later by hackers. But don't use DBAN in that situation, because it would erase HP's recovery partition as well.
4. The hard drive should store everything. Make sure that you don't have any CDs or DVDs in the drive when you shut it down.