When it comes to wiping, “more is better” is a good rule as long as you don’t go bonkers . If you don’t have one, perhaps grab a free copy of a Linux distribution and install that instead. Then, if you like , reinstall the operating system from an install disk. In practice we took the lint out of backup tapes and put that into a shredder and the snippets was treated to an acid bath by a specialised company.
In this day and age, people and businesses alike have more security concerns to worry about than ever before. Disposing of protected health information isn’t as simple as tossing your hard drive in the trash and ca… Here’s everything you need to know about hard drive shredders.
When I’ve had hard drives that were no longer needed and still functional, I did a full format of the drive then encrypted the drive using Bitlocker and tossed the recovery key. Then I took the drives to my local computer shop, letting them know that the drives were encrypted. This way, whoever got them had to format the drive before it could be used to remove the encryption. I’d guess that the same could be done using Veracrypt. I want to agree with leo it is all about how paranoid you are.
If you want to leave Windows on the machine…
Exactly how thorough an erase you need depends on your data and level of paranoia. First you perform one of the options listed in splattne’s answer and then you turn the drive into an approved electronic waste facility. Don’t throw it in the trash, bury it in the yard, deep six it, or anything else.
How to Know if your Degausser is Erasing
The term magnetic media covers a vast range of material from audio/video tapes and cassettes to computer diskettes and reels, supplied in a wide choice of sizes and complexities. All of them however, perform in the same basic way yet have significantly differing characteristics in performance and in operation that will require differing erasure processes. Another benefit is that magnetic media is very difficult to dispose of. If it is burned, it emits toxic fumes, if it is buried, it is not biodegradable. By re-using your media as many times as possible, you are adding you your company’s recycling programme.
Sometimes, unfortunately, we’re forced to trust the people who fix our computers. Our data is exposed whenever we bring our computer to a tech for repairs. If you have sensitive data you might want to think about using Truecrypt. Otherwise, after the fact, as Leo said, drilling through the drive may be our best alternative. The way Leo writes it, “DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it detects.”, once you boot from your DBAN CD, it will erase every hard drive on your system!
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Read more about Nsa listed electromagnetic degausser here.
A fellow brought is hard drive to me and said I could have it if I did a complete format infront of him. I did the complete format then overwrote it with a large Linux OS then formatted it again then overwrote it with a different OS then formatted it again. Then I installed an OS system on it so I don’t think anybody is going anything off that thing. Not even me, It’s in somebody’s computer and I don’t keep track of that stuff. The hard disk media is more protected – by its case if nothing else – than bulk audio tape. Those magnets are still not strong enough to penetrate the case and layers of platters in the drive. After deleting that newly named file, it and the first file still are on your hard drive since the OS does not overwrite data when it deletes the address in the directory, it only deletes the directory entry.
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To be compliant with the worlds recognized leader in data destruction choose from the following NSA Degaussers. In the case of degaussing magnetic media such as tapes and hard drives, there are two units of measurement to keep in mind. Hard drive shredding is a technique where a specially built device physically breaks a hard drive into smaller parts. Below are the most widely used professional data destruction methods for hard drive disposal. In this article, we’ll look at some common ways to dispose of hard drives and recommended the most secure methods. If you want to let go of your old device or simply rejuvenate your current one, use a reputable tool to do a thorough overwrite.
Physical destruction of a drive is tricky business. There are many companies that deal specifically in the field of data destruction, so if you are doing any kind of mass you may want to at least look at their price list. If you contract, make sure the company is properly bonded/insured, and provides audit trails for each destroyed item. In the worst case scenario that your information does get out, you want the document in hand that says your contractor properly destroyed the item in question. @JourneymanGeek – The drive magnets are found inside the case, and the case does not operate well as a magnetic shield ; this is most of the reason that dropping magnets in computers is not usually advised. Looking through the magnet selection, one of the larger neodymium magnets will run you from $5-$20 so that’s much more cost effective, if it works. However, according to their own blog, which performed an actual experiment on a live hard drive, this doesn’t work at all!