If you are going to sell your hard-drive, then you should permanently wipe out all the data from it. When you delete files from your computer, it still presents on your system’s hard disk and any data recovery software can easily recover it.
Deleting, Formatting, and reformatting are not enough:
Many people assume that pressing a delete button or ‘Shift+DEL’ will delete their data permanently but it’s not true. It is still present in your system’s hard disk. Even formatting is not the best option to delete the data but, better than a deleting process. Similarly, reformatting is better than formatting. In formatting process, the address table (contains data location in hard-drive) is formatted but data still presents on the hard disk. The reformatting process erases the address table of the data. In all the cases; a data recovery expert or a software can recover your data very easily. So, if you are thinking to sell your system or hard disk to any other organization or for charity then it can make you more vulnerable to data theft.
Why disk erasing?
Disk erasing is the most secure way to erase the data from hard disk permanently.
Disk erasing process overwrites the entire hard-drive with the binary data (0 or 1). This process typically overwrites MBR (Master Boot Record) partition table and sectors of the hard-drive. MBR is a small program that executes at the time of system booting. It presents in the first sector of the hard disk.
Disk erasing process:
As data erasing process works on an overwriting principle which removes the data permanently from hard disk. This is the best way to erase data unlike the physical destruction of the hard disk which makes it unusable.
Now, read the following case studies:
Case Study by UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
They purchased 200 hard drives from auction sites and fairs. Out of 200 hard disks, 11% has personal information like bank details, emails, personal photos and much more.
The information commissioner Christopher Graham said:
“We live in a world where personal and company information is a highly valuable commodity, it is important that people do everything they can to stop their details from falling into the wrong hands.”
Case study by Kessler International:
Kessler International conducted a study over 6 months. In this study, they buy the hard-drive from range 40GB to 300GB from USA and Canada. The total hard-drive was 100 and 40 hard-drive have data. The CEO of Kessler International said:
“With size of the sample, I guess we were surprised with the percentage of disks that we found data on. We expected most of the drives to be wiped — to find one or two disks with data. But 40 drives out of 100 is a lot.”
Kessler’s engineers found very important data like documents, photographs, E-mails and DNS server information because data was not overwritten. With this, lots of personal stuff by which anybody can blackmail them.
Kessler International divided this data into percentages and here it is:
From these two studies, it is clear that data erasing is must before selling the hard-drive. BitRaser for File from Stellar Data Recovery is file erasure software which will suit you best. It performs multiple overwrites or passes to erase data permanently from selected hard drive. User can also erase a specific file with the help of it. This also generates erasure certificate for erased file that have been erase after search.
Astonishing features of BitRaser for File:
You can see the options to set Erasure Algorithm and Verification. Choose them according to requirement.
Check Enable Logging option and you can also change path of log report using Browse option.
Click on the Create password link and now you will be able to set password for the applications.
Conclusion: We recommend everyone not to sell your hard drive, until you are sure there is no data present on the drive. The best method to ensure it to try BitRaser, it will erase every bit of data from your hard drive and make it like a new one. Stellar data recovery always cares our customers and recommend what is best for him.
Do Post your query if you have any, we will try to solve it within 24 hours.
Problem solver and Data recovery specialist. Usually share informative articles on data recovery, database corruption and ways to recover lost data.
Thanks for this informative article. I really look forward to use BitRaser for file tool in future.
Hello Andrew
Thanks for the feedback
BitRaser for file is really a wizard erasure software. It not only confidentially removed all important files, images. But even help me to optimize the PC machine space. Above all, all the things done without going to any data sanitizing center.
Hello Peter,
Many Thanks for your positive words.
Please share the software among your friends & colleagues.
How many passes are safe for complete data wiping?
Hello Lisa,
Although, even a single pass is enough for data removal. But to double sure, that your confidential data is permanently gone, we suggest erasing with 3 passes procedure.
Is there any slightest of chance for retrieving my important data back after using data erasure software.
Hello Patrick,
Sorry, currently there is no such tool available which can recover data back.
Even I strongly feel to properly sanitize the data using file erasure software. Since I twice face the data theft from my hard drive in past. I was amazed to know that second hand IT market is almost like a second home for cyber criminals.
Hello John,
We really appreciate you shared your experiences with us.
The number shows by various survey agencies scared me. As per one of the recent survey around 59% of the second-hand devices have still data with them. Means most of us are doing something wrong or incomplete like shift+delete, format or reformatting. Due to ever increasing cases of a data breach, it’s best to use data erasing software to properly wipe the data
Hello John,
Thanks for sharing numbers with us. I too believe using software based approach is the best solution.
Thanks & Regards
Team Stellar Data Recovery