REMOVING DATA FROM YOUR HARD DRIVE

Problem

Making certain that you remove confidential data from your hard drive prior to disposing of it

The drive could end up in unscrupulous hands.

Deletion/Formatting

· Inadequate; data can be recovered easily with appropriate software

· Removes “tag” but data still resides in unallocated space

· Formatting reconfigures the FAT (File Allocation Table) but does NOT remove

or overwrite the data

· Unsafe until overwritten

· Extra measures must be taken

Positive Means

· Physical destruction e.g. sledge hammer, drill

· Degaussing i.e. returning the magnetic flux to zero

· Overwriting with pattern of meaningless information i.e. "...Overwriting data once

 is not usually good enough to prevent data recovery, instead it is recommended that

a minimum of three passes are made writing alternating zero and one patterns over

the data and then further passes with random data, the more passes the better the

chance that no data can ever be recovered."

· Include treating sensitive data on flash drives, floppies, cartridges, tapes. DVDs/CDs

Suggested software

http://urlsnip.com/442626