The Gist
It’s time to dump the old hard drives. Make sure you wipe them the right way with these tips and tricks.
It’s already spring and for most people that means spring-cleaning. Spring-cleaning for some means throwing out old socks, for others it means getting rid of a pile of old hard drives. If you have a hard drive that is no longer being used, it’s important to wipe your hard drives securely before throwing or giving them away.
Why would you even need to wipe an old hard drive that you are going to throw away anyways? Well according to a test conducted by Computing Magazine, “The magazine recovered 22,000 “deleted” files from eight computers which it bought from the auction site eBay – demonstrating that normal deletion is insufficient to remove the data.”
Data security is more important than ever, access to your data can lead to identity theft. By simply deleting data off your hard drive, you might think you solved the problem but it doesn’t actually delete it, it just hides the data.
There are multiple ways to keep your data safe; in some cases you can also encrypt your drive in order to keep your information from being accessible. There are many encryption tools available such as Vista Ultimate which has BitLocker and Mac OSX has FileVault. However, disk encryption can be a longer process than simply erasing your data completely.
Another secure way is to use an open-source Eraser tool. This is one of the most highly secure and simplest solutions that allow you to permanently delete files in a quick and easy manner.
At Affant Communications, we are an Orange County IT solutions company that strives to provide you with up to date news and tips that will actually be of some use. And remember if none of those tips work, a hammer should definitely do the trick. To learn more about our solutions and services, speak to an IT specialist today at 714.338.7100.
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Founding and leading technology-oriented service organizations since 1988. Specializes in Public speaking relating to Business Management, Entrepreneurship, Communication Network Management, Network Security, Managing your Team, and IP Telephony /VoIP / IP Communication.
