Skeletons in your Hardrive

Many are not aware from the risk from discarded drives where you have all kinds of data being stored. When you delete something on the computer, it doesn't really ever get deleted completely. Most of us think that reformatting a drive gets rid of the data, and that's just not true. Wiping up your private and sensitive files from you computer doesn't actually work. When you delete a file, all it really does is mark the space on your hard drive that your file occupies as free space. The file is still there but your computer can now write new data on top of it.

In the investigative documentary conducted by Channel NewsAsia entitled "The Trash Trail", several sensitive and confidential files were discovered including compromising nude pictures, bank and credit card information, passport details and even blueprints of a marine engineering company recovered from reformatted secondhand hard drives using a data recovery software.

This documentary shows that it can be tougher to clean data off a discarded hard drive than many people realize. Simple deletion and reformatting wouldn't spare your personal data from other people that would potentially collect and share it without the your knowledge or consent.

In the past, many had been caught in compromising situations including celebrities when they have turn their computer for repairs or upgrades, or even if you wanted to simply sell it. Before doing so, make sure you don't have anything in it that you don't want others to see.

The IT market continues to hunger for everything from operating system software that somehow allows end users to completely delete their information, to more powerful wiping tools that do a better job in less time than the current products on the market. In the meantime, you will be forced to consider your best alternatives when faced with the decision to save, sell or recycle old hardware.

There are a number of options for cleansing the drives of unwanted computers, from special wiping software to destruction services to manufacturers' recycling programs. But what many PC owners don't realize, experts say, is that these methods are often not enough unless you do it correctly. The difference between people who use wiping software correctly to erase their hard drives and those who do not is most often a matter of attentiveness

For those who wants to be get rid of a disk, give away or pass it along, you have to overwrite it for several times. On the other hand, a fast wipe is pretty insufficient. The need to keep at it means those people who go into employing outside technology to erase their sensitive data could still be not enough. In general, experts agreed, the best approach in trying to completely erase information is to use a combination of data removal software and material destruction.

Skeletons In Your Hard Drive |
We bought 9 formatted used HDDs at Sim Lim Square (but not from the shops interviewed in this clip.) It's disturbing what we recovered from them. This is how easy it is for someone to retrieve private data you thought you'd wiped from your old hard drive. #TrashTrail on your virtual trash, Monday, 8pm. (UPDATE: The full episode http://bit.ly/2m6DCoW )
Posted by CNA Insider on Saturday, February 18, 2017