To Secure Erase Hard Drives Is Simple And Very Important
The act of deleting a file from a computer never really gets rid of the file. It is only the reference information of the file that is hidden from the operating system but the file itself is usually still in the computer. This file can be retrieved at a later date by file recovery programs. This may pose a great security threat to people who dispose of their computers that had been used to save some personal information even if they had deleted the files before the disposal. To solve this problem, several software programs that can secure erase hard drives have been designed.
The programs used to secure erase consist of in-built commands that are found in ATA drives built after 2001. These programs work by overwriting on all the tracks of the hard drive. This action renders the previous files inaccessible. One may consider reformatting the disk but this does not achieve the same purpose as data on a reformatted disk is still available.
The eraser programs involve the selection of specific files and folders as well as free disk space, cluster tips and the recycling bin. There is a wide variety different random data patterns that can be used to overwrite the selected data areas. Most of the available software can work with any drive including IDE, RAID and SCSI. Different types of partitions such as NFTS, FAT 16 and FAT 32 are also supported.
Recovery programs may then be used to check for the efficiency of the action. Users should not always expect 100% efficiency as some data may not be erased. This may include data from protected files or that in files still being used. Some data are very difficult to erase but will be removed by free space wiping.
It is important that one takes some precautions before using these programs. One should only use the programs if they are sure that they will not need to recover the data at any other time because the action is irreversible. It is also important to have a well charged battery or any other reliable source of power for the computer. If power fails when the program is running, the hard drive gets locked and prevents any input and output actions.
To secure erase hard drives before disposal is a simple but very important exercise. The programs for this can either be bought or downloaded from the internet as freeware from several sites.
The programs used to secure erase consist of in-built commands that are found in ATA drives built after 2001. These programs work by overwriting on all the tracks of the hard drive. This action renders the previous files inaccessible. One may consider reformatting the disk but this does not achieve the same purpose as data on a reformatted disk is still available.
The eraser programs involve the selection of specific files and folders as well as free disk space, cluster tips and the recycling bin. There is a wide variety different random data patterns that can be used to overwrite the selected data areas. Most of the available software can work with any drive including IDE, RAID and SCSI. Different types of partitions such as NFTS, FAT 16 and FAT 32 are also supported.
Recovery programs may then be used to check for the efficiency of the action. Users should not always expect 100% efficiency as some data may not be erased. This may include data from protected files or that in files still being used. Some data are very difficult to erase but will be removed by free space wiping.
It is important that one takes some precautions before using these programs. One should only use the programs if they are sure that they will not need to recover the data at any other time because the action is irreversible. It is also important to have a well charged battery or any other reliable source of power for the computer. If power fails when the program is running, the hard drive gets locked and prevents any input and output actions.
To secure erase hard drives before disposal is a simple but very important exercise. The programs for this can either be bought or downloaded from the internet as freeware from several sites.
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