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:
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!!!
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.
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.