How Clean Off The Hard Drive... When You Delete, Data Can Be Recovered

With various levels of data protection, how clean off the hard drive so our data is permanently erased?

But why would we want to securely delete our information and how can we be confident that we're doing it correctly?

Well, to answer those questions, we'll be covering the following...

1. Why Wipe?
2. The DoD Standard
3. How Does The DoD Standard Work?
4. Software Features To Look For
5. Recommended Wiping Software
6. Further Secure Deletion Information

1. How Clean Off The Hard Drive... Why Wipe?

Pressing The Delete Button Doesn't Remove Data

There are some misconceptions about deleting computer files...

Simply pressing the delete button, emptying the Recycle Bin or even formatting the drive doesn't get rid of files. The digital information still remains on the drive we are using... whether that be the hard disk drive (HDD) or an external drive, such as a memory card that plugs into our computers.

There are programs that can recreate this deleted data from the different hidden locations on the HDD or from the swap file.

We are particularly at risk when selling or disposing of our computer... or even putting it in for repair. Anyone with one of these programs and access to our computer can see everything we've ever used your computer for... unless our unwanted information is deleted beyond recovery.

Reasons To Permanently Delete Data

Here's just a few reasons when you may want to permanently wipe information from your computer...

• You may want to reassure clients, customers or patients that their confidential data will never be seen by anyone else, when it is no longer required to be stored
• Your hard drive has become corrupted, so you want to clean your drive and re-install
• You want to prevent identity theft and so are deleting financial and personal information 'on the go', so it cannot be retrieved by crackers and identity theft malware
• Your computer performance has dramatically decreased and you want to increase memory by deleting unused files and other data... but in a way to guard privacy
• You may have valuable or secret private or company information on your computer that must never be recovered by a third party
• You may be selling a hard drive, donating or selling the entire computer or disposing of it. You may not want a third party able to recover all that you've stored on your hard drive

So how clean off the hard drive? Well, by using data wipe software of a certain standard, specific files such as Internet history or the complete HDD can be deleted so that they cannot be recovered.

This is achieved by repeatedly overwriting the files... but it is important to make the correct number and type of overwrites.

By overwriting with software employing the United States Department of Defense (DoD) standard, files are impossible to recover.

2. How Clean Off The Hard Drive... The DoD Standard

The Department of Defense (DoD) hard disk wipe standard requires the data to be destroyed is rewritten multiple times to ensure proper data protection.

The DoD data wipe process will guard privacy by offering these features...

• Erases data from your HDD permanently
• Rewrites the data so that no data recovery program can piece it back together
• Has the same role as a paper shredder, ensuring proper information discarding
• Ensures all your private information, such as credit card numbers or passwords and emails, is irrecoverable once deleted

3. How Clean Off The Hard Drive... How Does The DoD Standard Work?

The U.S. Department of Defense 5220.22-M standard for disk-sanitization is the most rigorous data wipe procedure you will encounter.

This wiping standard requires seven passes, with each pass formed of 3 different data wipes... the hard drive is rewritten and covered with random patterns. With each wipe, the deleted data becomes harder to piece back together.

We may not need to be concerned with such high levels of data wiping for information that isn't confidential. But with information that is, such as business, financial and personal information, it should be safely discarded by using the DoD standard.

4. How Clean Off The Hard Drive... Software Features

When looking at how clean off the hard drive, what software features should we be selecting?

• Well, first off, ensure the software specifically states it is 5220.22-M compliant. This is the DoD standard
• While the DoD hard disk wipe feature is important, you will also want to select a software program that makes the data wipe easy and fast.

  This is because it can take hours or even days to wipe a large number of files from your hard drive... depending on how many passes you want and how much data you have

• Select a data wipe program that allows you to delete selected sectors from your hard drive, such as individual files or documents

4. How Clean Off The Hard Drive... Recommended Software

Here are three programs that are 5220.22-M compliant and which I personally use.

I have tested these programs using System Mechanic's data recovery module.

This data recovery tool looks for deleted data on any drive and undeletes it. It is one of many maintenance and repair tools within System Mechanic -- an award-winning suite, which keeps my computer in tip-top condition.

None of the data deleted by the programs below could be recovered.

If you'd like to know more about recovery of deleted data, take a look at Recovering Digital Evidence From Hard Drives

I. How Clean Off The Hard Drive... Evidence Eliminator

If you have really sensitive data or browsing and download tracks that must not be recovered, then Evidence Eliminator is the most thorough eraser on the market today.

You do have to pay an upfront price for this technology. However, you get a lifetime of free upgrades and support, whereas other programs require an annual subscription... so, this product is hard to beat for effectiveness and longer term value.

Evidence Eliminator meets and surpasses the DoD standard and has been shown to erase so effectively that data cannot be recovered by Encase, the forensic industry's benchmark recovery software.

To give you information about the benefits and features of Evidence Eliminator and its effectiveness against forensic software, I've written a special article on Encase Versus Evidence Eliminator

Although I don't agree with Evidence Eliminator's scare marketing tactics, it is my data eraser of choice, because it gives my clients the peace of mind and confidence that their sensitive data on my PC can never be recovered.

For more details on the product, visit Evidence Eliminator

II. How Clean Off The Hard Drive... Window Washer

If you don't feel the need -- or want to pay the price -- for the thoroughness and flexibility of Evidence Eliminator, you may prefer to consider a program to guard privacy by wiping your browsing trail clean.

Internet Explorer and Windows thoroughly and silently track your Web travels and monitor your desktop activity.

To permanently erase these details, Webroot's Window Washer cleans your...

• browser history
• cache
• cookies
• auto-complete
• drop-down address bar text
• Recycle Bin
• Windows Temporary folder
• Plug-in and download traces

Window Washer also includes a "bleach" service, whereby a file can be overwritten up to a maximum of ten user-definable times.

For more information and a free trial, visit Window Washer

III. How Clean Off The Hard Drive... CyberScrub cyberCide

If you want to go a much cheaper route than Evidence Eliminator but still wipe data beyond DoD standards, consider CyberScrub's cyberCide.

The program handles nearly all the types of extra data and track erasure that Evidence Eliminator does, but requires far more tweaking to do it.

For more details, see CyberScrub cyberCide

For a free trial download, click on cyberCide trial download

5. How Clean Off The Hard Drive... Further Secure Deletion Information

1. How Clean Off The Hard Drive To Securely Remove Personal Data
2. Encase vs Evidence Eliminator
3. How To Clean Hard Drive Prior To Disposal Of Computer
4. The Best Buy And Free Internet History Deleter Programs
5. Can A Format Hard Drive Erase Hidden Files?




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