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Delete sensitive data before selling old computers

Lincoln Spector

Network Administration - Anyone can use an inexpensive data recovery program to recover your recently deleted files - even if you've deleted them in the recycle bin (recycle bin ). They can also recover the hard drive that has just been formatted. Therefore, if you want to make sure that the new owner of your old PC cannot know your private information, you need to destroy sensitive files by overwriting other data.

Before choosing a program, you need to answer two questions: Do you want to delete sensitive data or the entire disk? What level of safety do you want to be at?

Deleting sensitive data files usually takes place faster, but it requires you to be more cautious and also easy to make mistakes. It also requires that you destroy all unused space on the drive because this space may still contain the remnants of older versions of your sensitive data files.

Deleting the entire drive also has its own problems. Windows computers are assumed to be owned by another owner with operating system integrity. However, if your computer has a recovery disk that you didn't lose, this is no big deal - you can destroy the drive, then reinstall Windows. In case you reinstall the operating system for your device but do not have that CD or DVD, deleting the entire drive will destroy the Windows registry that came with it.

Considering the level of security you need: Most of these programs offer several methods of data destruction, which can allow over 35 files per day to ensure that nothing can be recovered. restored. However, simple options such as one-pass, make your data difficult to access for any normal software. Cancellation by one-pass feature is also quite fast (they only take a few hours instead of a few days) and in some cases, it is cheaper.

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Here are our recommendations:

If you want to delete folders or files of your choice, use an open source program called Eraser. After installing the program, just right-click the unwanted files or folders and select Erase. Click the Options button to select a cancel method.

Once the sensitive files have been deleted, open My Computer (Computer in Vista), right-click on the C: drive and select Erase Unused Space .

To delete a partition, you need to download the DOS version of Active @ KillDisk. This compressed .zip file contains an .iso file. Burn this .iso file to a CD and boot the computer from the CD to run the program.

The free version only performs a simple destructive action, but as we discussed earlier, it is a good enough tool for most ordinary users. If you really need more professional, you need to use the Pro version for $ 45.

You can delete the entire drive with Active @ KillDisk, but if you want multi-pass options and extended security, Darik's Boot And Nuke (DBAN for short) will provide those features completely. free. This tool is also an .iso file that needs to create a bootable CD so you need an iso-burn program such as ISO Recorder.

However, as a warning, DBAN will delete every hard drive it finds. Therefore it is a program that is not neglected in use.

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