Tuesday, November 23, 2010

What Happens During A hard Drive Wipe

By Kelly Bean


A hard drive wipe is the term for a secure deletion procedure that results in no traces of the data that was once stored on the wiped hard drive. This is usually carried out using specialized software programs created for this purpose. It ought to be noted that a hard drive wipe is different from and much more secure than simply deleting all the files which are on a hard drive.

This is because when a file is deleted, it isn't truly completely removed from the hard disk. What actually occurs is that the file is just marked as having been deleted, and the hard disk space which it uses up is marked as being ready for use. So the file is no longer listed in its directories. Also, the space in which a deleted file is contained might in fact be overwritten by new data being put into the hard disk.

For many applications and users, this file deletion might be adequate. A more thorough deletion would just be a waste of system resources, and therefore is usually not implemented. However, you will find particular cases in which the more secure deletion that a hard drive wipe affords becomes desirable.

For instance, computers that deal with critical information might eventually be reassigned, or replaced. In this case, it may be ideal to ensure that the important information couldn't be recovered afterwards, in case malicious acts may be done with this data in hand. For instance, financial information such as credit card numbers, account numbers, and balances may be recovered from hard drives which are recycled but not wiped clean.

Similarly, even personal computers may take advantage of a hard drive wipe, for example when they're being resold or given away. The simple precaution of doing a hard drive wipe might prevent or at least reduce the risk of identity theft and the acquisition of any other vital personal information.

One of many easiest ways to perform a hard drive wipe is to acquire a copy of a hard drive wipe program which could automatically run from a CD or other removable storage device. In most cases, the hard drive wipe process then simply includes plugging the storage device containing the appropriate program into the computer to be wiped clean.

A hard drive wipe functions by overwriting the current data with random data, frequently many times. This has the effect of covering the previously existing data and making it almost impossible to recover. The standard number of overwrites ranges from 7 all the way up to thirty five layers of overwriting data.

Hard drive wiping also assists by being a more environmentally-friendly alternative to physical destruction of the hard drive. When disposing of a hard drive that contains confidential information, the user may want to choose to have the drive physically rendered unusable. Nevertheless, recycling facilities exist that would repurpose the hard drive. To get this done, they are required by law to wipe the hard drives so as to make any previous data unrecoverable.

The hard drive wipe is a beneficial procedure that is becoming increasingly more necessary in this information age.




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