DVD Encryption Removal Mac
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If you are planning to sell, give away or just get rid of your old hard disk, you wouldn't want anyone to see what was stored on your hard disk earlier. You would not want anybody to access your personal files and impair your security.
You may spend a lot of time deleting sensitive files and then decide to format your old hard disk and get rid of the data. This is just not enough. Even after deletion and formatting, data can be retrieved from your old hard disk by anyone who knows about data recovery.
When you delete a file, only the address of the file is deleted. The data on the file continues to exist on the hard disk. What formatting a drive does is that it removes the boot records and leaves your data on the drive. The Operating System may display that the disk is empty because it cannot find the links to the files, but they are there all the same.
One way of efficiently erasing all the files on your hard disk is to format it and then fill each bit on the disk with zeros. There are several freeware, shareware and commercial tools available to perform this task for you.
If the data on your old hard disk is so sensitive that you want absolutely no chance of data recovery - you could do one of the following:
1. Perform the format and zero-fill process several times. This should discourage even the most dedicated malicious person attempting data recovery.
2. Another option is to do the format and zero-fill method by opting for a different file system each time. This makes sure your data can never be recovered.
Alternatively, when you buy a new computer, if you know that you would be giving away your hard disk when you upgrade, you could opt for storing data in encrypted mode right from the beginning. When you finally give away your disk, the probability of someone recovering your data is very low as they would not know the string originally used to encrypt the data. You also would not have to go through the entire rigmarole of formatting, deleting etc.
However, be aware that encrypting your data just before formatting the hard disk prior to giving it away will not protect your data. You have to follow the encryption policy right from the outset for this strategy to work.
Ms. Pinky is a Computer Support Specialist for more than 25 years. Has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering, MS Research work in Systems Engineering.
Get more free computer tips on her blog at http://www.computerhelpdeskandsupport.com/