!44: Don't Throw Away Your Computer's Hard Drive Until You Shred it Properly

!±8± Don't Throw Away Your Computer's Hard Drive Until You Shred it Properly

Disposing of old hard drives is easy enough to do, plenty of places will take them for free, and many are placed in machines for resale, or charity machines that go to the poor. However, there is a problem with sending off a hard drive to be recycled. You can delete the data, and send it to the recycle bin; however the data will still be there, hidden away, even after you empty it.

The standard delete function of Windows merely marks the file data that used to be on the hard drive as 'empty' which means it can be written over. This means that it could be months until all traces of the original data are unrecoverable on the hard drive. With a bit of simple data recovery software, anyone who takes your recycled hard drive could open up those deleted files and could find personal details, and even bank information, which could be used in Identity fraud or even to purchase products using your personal bank account.

While you cannot permanently delete files in windows, there are plenty of programs out there which can help you delete your files permanently. These work by overwriting the parts of the hard drive which were used to store your original file with new data. The software then deletes the new data. Most security programs which do this permanent delete will rewrite each block with new randomized data around 7 times by default, although they can be set to do it more or less times, according to your specifications.

Using some software which performs secure file shredding is incredibly important in today's world, especially when cyber criminals are looking for alternative ways to get hold of personal information. Fortunately most internet security packages come with some kind of file deletion tool, and there are plenty of free secure file shredding tools available online.

Free file shredding tools allow you to securely remove all trace data of your personal files from your computer, preventing anyone from recovering data from your hard drive should you choose to sell it, or donate it to charity. Getting the simple secure file shredding software takes minutes, but it could save you thousands of dollars in Identity fraud!

Some secure file shredding tools are better than others, you might want to look around for user reviews, and check out exactly what each one offers. Some file deletion software will use a variety of different algorithms, rather than just using the same method time and time again. This ensures that all your data has been securely shredded, and will be 100% secured from any prying eyes trying to recover your information!

Finding free file shredding software online is a great way to protect yourself from the abundance of dangers that you can find in the computer world, it ensures that the data you want to be securely deleted from your computer stays deleted. This extra level of both security and comfort provides you with the knowledge that your personal and financial data is recovered from your old hard drives.