Why it’s imperative you destruct your hard drive
April 23rd, 2009 by Kiwi Commons
Consider computer file disposal in the same light as solid waste disposal. Not everything gets trashed into non-existence. Just as solid waste gets buried in landfills, “deleted” old files sometimes get buried in your computer’s memory.
Out of sight does not mean it’s out of your computer’s system.
For this reason, another person’s hard drive can be another person’s treasure. Old hard drives are like gold mines to criminals; who buy it off of Internet auction sites or from trash collectors. From these hard drives, criminals can recover personal, valuable details you “deleted” from your system. According to Which? Computing Magazine, over 22,000 “deleted” files were recovered from eight computers purchased on eBay.
It’s important to remember that this goes way beyond what’s in your Recycle Bin. Thieves use freely available software to recover files on your old computer hard drive.
This “deleted” information typically contains personal data like where you shop online, social networking sites, past online bills, old digital photos and your saved passwords.
So what can you do to erase your hard drive for good?
1.) Break your hard drive into as many little pieces as you possibly can. (Wait!!! Though this seems to be the straightforward and fun solution, this could amount to a mishmash of toxic materials and just pint-sized fragments of recoverable deleted data.)
2.) Use software that can completely erase your hard drive, like ‘Wipe Drive’ along with open source options via www.download.com
3.) Seek professional help, including experts that use high frequency AC magnetic fields that corrupt your hard drive.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7816446.stm
Posted in Internet Safety | 
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