Wipe Hard Drive before Disposing Your PC/Laptop
So you think that by formatting the hard drive of your computer, you have completely deleted all your crucial files and personal information from it and you now can consider it ready to be sold. If yes, then you are wrong! There are various specialized data recovery tools available by which one can recover your formatted or permanently deleted data and can misuse them for identity theft. At this time, you may think that you should never sell your old PC.
What should you do if you want to sell your old computer without causing criminals to steal your personal information? Use a hammer to smash the hard drive of a computer before disposing of it? Well, no, not at all! There is lots of hard drive wipe tools available online which overwrite entire hard drive content and make its content unavailable for misuse.
However, an obvious question may strike on your mind; even if formatting the hard disk how these data recovery tools recover permanently deleted data. If this is so, then how using wipe hard drive tools we can restrict cybercriminals access our invaluable data.
The answer to the first question resides in the way the hard drive stores data or information. The operating system of your computer maintains an index file on the hard drive. This index file contains a list of the locations of each file stored on the hard disk of your computer. Whenever you delete a file from your system, only its entry from the index is removed, however, the file with its entire data remains at its location. Same is the case with formatting. Efficient data recovery tools are capable enough to find these files with no index entries and thus recover your data. Though data recovery tools are boon in various cases of hard drive crash but can be disastrous, if your hard drive falls into wrong hands.
Now answer the second question. These certified hard drive wipe tools are basically data destruction tools which erase your data completely by overwriting it through secure wipe methods.
Bitraser for File is one such tool. Through easy to use wizard of the software, you can wipe off your entire confidential files and folders from the selected hard drive without leaving an even single chance of recovery. From the list of standard wiping algorithms, including dod wipe (3/7 pass) & NATO, you can select the one and start permanent wiping of your data in one go. Also, the software provides the certification after every eraser which can be used for various audit compliances plus the software provides details of the process during wiping and generates a log report of the entire process. This file wipe software is well compatible with Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista.
Some of the prominent software features are:
- 100% tamper-proof audit compliance certification after every wipe process.
- Permanently wipes application traces like chat messengers and Microsoft applications
- Erase traces of Internet activities for all leading browsers- Google Chrome, Internet Explorer etc.
- Securely wipes system traces like recent documents, service logs, system history etc.
- Option to search specific file present in the system for erasure.
- Supports 17 international wiping standards.
This file eraser utility is also capable of erasing unused space from hard drive which results in better system performance.
So you can use BitRaser for File and wipe hard drive without any fear of data compromise or identity theft!!!
About The Author
Oliver Powell
Oliver Powell is a Data Recovery Expert at Stellar®. He is a passionate technology blogger & content creator, He explores new applications and has deep understanding of data recovery. He has experience in Windows & Mac data recovery domain.
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Does this software supports dod wipe?
Hello Martin,
Yes, the software supports US dod (3/7 pass) wipe algorithm.
Do the software provide any kind of certification after erasure?
Hello Grazie,
Yes the software provide certification after every erasure process which is valid for audit and compliance.
How to erase the records of installed Internet Browsers?
Hello Alex,
To wipe traces of internet activities:
1. Run BitRaser for File application.
2. Click Internet Activities tab from the left pane of your screen. Tab expands showing the following
supported Internet browsers:
• Google Chrome
• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Netscape Navigator
• Opera
• SeaMonkey
• Safari
• Microsoft Edge
Note that tabs of only installed Internet browsers will be displayed in enabled mode.
3. Click on the desired Internet browser, whose activities are to be erased. Application window displays
the supported Internet browsers and the categories to be wiped/erased in a tree view in the right
pane of screen
4. Check or uncheck the categories to select or deselect them for erasing. Additionally, you can check
the root node to select all the activities.
5. In case you are using Tree view, click on +/- sign to expand the tree. Check or Uncheck options
under the application root node in the right pane to select or deselect the individual traces.
6. In case you want to navigate back to the previous window, click Back button.
7. Click Erase Now button from the right bottom of screen to start the erasure process
I want to remove only few of the handful of files. Please suggest how the software helps me?
Hello Dave,
In such scenario, we recommend using “BitRaser for file” variant of our software. After launching the software, under the Erase Now section, the connected hard drive is visible along with the drives and sub-folders/files. Please select the desired file and press erase now button.
Don’t want to wipe my operating system. Please suggest suitable software.
Hello Victor,
If you don’t want to wipe your OS, then I recommend using BitRaser for file version, which permanently erases your files and folders information.
Gone through recently published EU-GDPR guidelines and get to know about the hefty fines and even imprisonment, for not properly disposing of the business data.
Hello Dean,
For proper data sanitization, EU-GDPR is the welcome step. We hope every businesses are taking proper care of their old IT assets.
Need to urgently wipe a hard drive having more than 1 TB data. Does the above-mentioned software produce any certification after data erasing? I need for audit records.
Hello Amrit,
The above-mentioned software i.e Bitraser for file allows you to erase only files and folders from the hard drive permanently. If you want to delete the whole hard disk data, I recommend using to you – BitRaser (https://www.stellarinfo.com/data-erasure/data-eraser-windows.php)
Yes, you will get certificate after every erasing process.
I agree with the views of Henry Austin, everybody should follow the best practice of data removal by data erasing process only. It is the safest and complete way of data destruction.
Hi James,
Absolutely correct, data erasing is the safest way of data destruction. An eco-friendly way of complete data removal.
Please confirm, is the above-mentioned software compatible with Windows XP?
Yes, you can easily use Bitraser software with Windows XP
The government of various countries is made certain standards and laws for complete data erasing. All companies must follow the guidelines properly, otherwise, they may penalize. It’s a nice step started to protect our data from the data breach.
Since, lots of our personal information, we usually carry in storage media, the chances of theft are equally increased. It is very difficult to mug-up long alpha-numeric numbers like social security number, credit card number, bank details, passport etc. This information can work as a valuable information for cyber goons who may misuse for any anti-national activities. So to avoid this, I always delete my data from any data destruction method.
I totally agree with the views of the author. Knowing the importance of my critical data, I rigorously follow the practice of complete data deletion with the help of any certified data erasure software. The overwriting method makes data completely destroyed, out of the chance of any data recovery software.
Due to lack of knowledge, earlier like many other people, I too thought that using Fdisk, FORMAT and delete command will forever delete the data, but it was all wrong once I get to know about this informative article. Although, I didn’t get a chance to use the above software till now, but I would definitely use in future.
I consider using a data erasing software is the need of the common masses. With so heavily dependent on various digital gadgets, the chances of data theft also increased. All our secret information will be wiped before the device will be handed over to some unknown person. Also, as a responsible citizen, you can encourage others to reduce E-waste by reusing your HDD after erasing your old data.
Thanks for this informative post!!!
After reading this blog, I will definitely use a data wiping software before selling or disposing of my old PC. It’s good to know that chances of recovery are none after using this software. Such a secure and reliable data erasing method.
Yes, it was always advisable to wipe the hard drive before disposing or selling our old PC as the cyber thieves may misuse our data for any unwanted activity. I didn’t try the above-mentioned tool yet, but, I surely bookmarked it for future references.
Like most of the people, I too just formatted disk partitions before selling my old hard drive or a desktop; this is because of unawareness and incomplete knowledge. But, thanks to this post, by the next time I, first of all, take a backup and then completely wiped my data before disposing of my PC.
It was a common practice among many of us to format our hard drive or USB devices before handed over to someone. Totally unaware of the concept that data can be retrieved by this method by cyber criminals. So, to avoid any suspicious activity, always use an effective third party data erasing software.