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How to wipe your hard drive |
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Business
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Written by Peter Warren
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Thursday, 10 August 2006 |
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Published Guardian Thursday August 10th, 2006
"Ensuring data is completely destroyed"
Erasing data from a computer is not as simple as the manufacturers
would have you believe. Just deleting it or reformatting the hard drive
does not remove the data, and the secure removal of data about
individuals by companies is now a legal requirement.
There are a number of methods used to "delete" data from a hard drive.
These methods do not remove the data, they simply make space available
for the system to use when next required. The data remains on the disk.
Readily available software tools can be used to restore the data. Some
are even free.
When data is deleted, all that actually happens is that the
computer marks the space as available for reuse - it does not remove
the data. The only way to remove it is to overwrite it. But failing to
delete data may result in identity theft, financial loss, fraud or
blackmail. Such concerns have prompted Microsoft to add a drive
encryption feature called BitLocker into its new Windows Vista system
to protect data on a PC.
According to Nick Coleman, chief executive of the Institute of
Computer Security Professionals, the Glamorgan research highlights a
glaring problem for the computer industry. "This is about how you
manage data to the end of its life and what is best practice. People
are used to buying shredders to get rid of paper information; now they
need to be pointed in the direction of properly accredited people who
they know are competent to destroy the data for them."
There are disk wiping utilities and programs available that will
erase data if correctly used. Some programs erase the entire disk,
while others allow you to select which files or folders to erase. It is
important that the utility or program provide an option to erase free
space.
Life Cycle Services has a list of data removal programs and instructions at www.howtowipeyourdrive.com
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