Data Protection and Recycling Computer Hardware

We've been running online computer resale, repair and recycling companies for a number of years and throughout the whole period, the most important (and I can't stress this enough) part of the operation has been the protection of personal and corporate data/ information. This cannot be stressed enough. Everything from replying to emails to surfing the web and recycling/ disposing of your computer exposes you to fraud and identity theft.

The most overlooked portion of a computer's life is that of its disposal and the protection of the data on its hard drive. Skipping or binning your computer without first thinking about the safety of your personal information is simply crazy. It's like throwing your credit card in the garbage bin without first cutting it up.

Using a professional recycling service isn't always the best solution. Similarly, the local municipal recycling center will not be the best place to just take your old computer. You need to treat the hard drive or remove it first. Professional services will ensure your old computer does not end up in landfill, but they usually don't guarantee that your data will be removed. If your used computer ends up on the Ivory Coast, its data will probably be accessed and your personal information stolen. Paying for recycling does give you some surety in that there's a form of contract in place and monies have changed hands for a service, but always check first to ensure that data destruction is included as part of the contract- and always insist on a certificate to say that the hard drive has been wiped or destroyed.

Wiping your own data is the best option and software like dBan offers the best and most secure way of doing this. The other option open to you is to remove the hard drive and take a sledge hammer to it. For corporates, computer recycling usually costs money and if it doesn't, the service most certainly involves resale for export, where information may be accessed on other continents- well outside the shores of your parent country and the laws that protect a company's rights. Remember, if in doubt, ask. Look for a level of professionalism and a service from your chosen recycling company designed to ensure client retention.

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Protect Your Data with an External Backup Drive

Computers are a very important part of our society, both in a business environment and personally. Having a home computer has been very common for both fun and work purposes. It is common to have pictures saved on your computer as well as some of your financial information. Losing data due to a virus or computer crash can be devastating. The process of recovering all that information is very time consuming and expensive.

In many such instances the data is simply lost forever. If you have important information that you don’t want to be without you need to protect yourself now. Too many people wait to invest in an external backup drive until after they have experienced such a loss. You will find them readily available for desktop and laptop computers.

With an external backup drive, the data isn’t physically stored on your computer system. You will use a type of zip disk to store the information on. Make sure you label the disks accordingly so that you know what is on each one of them. Should you not be able to retrieve the original information that is on your computer you will be able to pull out these disks and continue using your data?

The cost of the hardware for an external backup drive depends on what brand you purchase. It also depends on the amount of storage space you need it to have. Generally you want it to have as much storage space or more than your computer does.

However, the investment is generally very minimal and you will find it to be well worth it. Just one problem with your computer will cost you more than a backup drive for data retrieval and the time to try to piece together or redo the information that you have lost.

It is a good idea to invest in good quality disks for the external backup drive as well. You don’t want to purchase cheap disks and then realize that the information can’t be retrieved from them either due to poor manufacturing.

Take your time to find an external backup drive that is affordable, offers plenty of storage space, and is easy to install and use. In most instances you can install the external back up drive in less than an hour. This includes downloading and installing the necessary software for it to operate. Once it is in place you can just make a few clicks to save information to the disks as a back up resource.

Being able to rely on your computer for a variety of tasks is what makes them such an important part of our society. Be prepared for the unexpected though and always use an external backup drive to protect your data. This is a much easier process than having the nightmare of trying to piece back what data you can retrieve and having to do without the rest of it. You never know when your computer will experience a problem or are the target of a virus. Don’t let these issues because you time, money, or frustration.

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