A computer hard drive can contain a huge amount of personal and /or confidential business information, this data must be removed before a PC is disposed of. Even if the hard drive is faulty or broken it is still possible to retrieve data, so it is essential that all the data is securely erased.
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If companies and organisations do not fully erase confidential data from a hard drive on computers and laptop devices then they expose themselves and the general public to fraud, identity theft and potentially even national security. It is important to be aware that it is illegal to not securely dispose of confidential data from media such as a hard drive or computer tape.
What price do you put on the security of your data? The Information Commissioners Office now have the power to impose fines of up to £500,000 for organisations failing in their data security.
Erasing and Formatting a Hard Drive is Not Secure Enough
Simply erasing all the data and formatting the hard drive is not secure enough. You can spend hours going through your hard drive deleting files and  documents, but this basically only removes the shortcuts or links to the files making them invisible to users. Deleted data still remains on the hard drive and a quick search on Google will reveal a wide variety of system recovery software options allowing anyone to reinstate that data.
Formatting a hard drive is a bit more secure, however, this also does not erase the data on the disk, only the address tables. It makes it much more difficult to recover the files but a specialist would be able to recover most or all the data that was on the hard drive before the reformat.
For those who accidentally format a hard disk being able to recover most or all the data that is a good thing. However, if you're preparing a system for disposal, this obviously makes you more vulnerable to data theft.
For some businesses and individual users, a format of the hard drive may be something you consider secure enough, depending on the type of data and information that is on the computer. As long as people understand that formatting is not a 100% secure way to completely remove all data from a hard drive, then they are able to make the choice between formatting and more secure methods such as degaussing. If you have decided a disk format is enough then at the very least perform a full format rather than a quick format.
'Erase Hard Drive' software is available but these can take several hours to run, so for companies or businesses that need to dispose of more than one PC or laptop this is probably not the best option.
Some companies recommend the extreme method of drilling a hole through the Hard Drive Disc but even this is not 100% secure, experts could still retrieve sensitive data! Which! magazine recommends using a hammer, but this not necessarily the solution, more information.
For the physical destruction of a hard drive use a hard drive destroyer.
The fastest and most secure method to erase a hard drive is to use a degausser which can be used to completely erase all audio, video and data signals from media such as magnetic tapes and hard disk drive. Only a degausser can quickly remove data 100% and ensure that confidential information is securely and completely erased. A hard drive that has been degaussed or erased using a degausser will render the hard drive inoperative.
Who needs to securely erase their hard drive?
Computer departments of corporations: safe disposal of information from any old PC hard drive.
Data Storage Companies: data no longer needed can be easily, securely and efficiently erased with a degausser.
Defense Organisations: obviously must securely erase all confidential and top secret information from hard drives no longer required.
Financial Services: can use a hard drive degausser to erase all confidential data from a hard drive prior to disposal
Hospitals & Health Organisations : erase sensitive information held on hard drive, such as patient records etc.
Universities: wipe all old hard drives prior to disposal. |
