Erase A Hard Disk Drive Permanently: How

A hard disk drive also known as hard drive or hard disk is a non-volatile storage device, which has the facility to stock up digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters and magnetic surfaces. Its design consists of a spindle which can hold one or more flat circular disks known as platters, onto which the data is recorded. It has the ability to store data more than floppy disk drives and can also access and transmit data at faster pace. Today, the boost in disk space and access speeds of hard disk drive have further facilitated the marketable viability of clients products that need great storage capacities, like digital audio players and video recorders.

However, the main problem that we are coming across is erasing data or files from hard disk permanently. Most of us think that erasing files and emptying the Recycle Bin will help in permanently get rid of those files. In fact, in most of the cases Recycle Bin tells that emptying the Recycle Bin will permanently remove items. But this statement is totally incorrect. You have to understand even after emptying the Recycle Bin, the files can be easily recovered by data recovery programs. Making the best use of delete key on actually removes the shortcuts to the files and makes them undetectable to users. Deleted files still reside on the hard drive and a rapid Google search will automatically show options for system recovery software will further allow to restore that data.

Apart from erasing the files or data from hard drive, many people also consider that the effective way to erase hard drive data is by formatting the hard drive. Though formatting the hard drive is somewhat secure than just erasing the files, but you should also note that formatting a disk does erase only the address tables. It makes it much more difficult to recover the files. However a computer specialist would be able to recover most or all the data that was on the disk before the reformat.

Disk Wiping is the next new technique that is gaining its popularity these days. Disk wiping is a new secure method and ensure that data, including individually licensed softwares on your computer and storage devices is irrecoverably deleted before recycling. Disk wiping is better method in comparison to erasing files or formatting the hard drive, because this method basically overwrites your entire hard drive with data, several times and once you format your hard drive, you may find it impossible to get back the data which was present on the drive before the overwrite. Though disk wiping algorithms vary from product to product, they usually write the entire disk with a number (zero or one) and then a reformat is required. Today, there are many products available in the market that you can purchase or download to perform secure disk wipes. Moreover, the two free programs that are gaining recognition for erasing data from your hard drive are:

(1) Darik’s Boot and Nuke: This is an application that you can install on a bootable floppy or CD Rom. Boot and Nuke uses several methods to wipe the data on your drive to an unrecoverable state. With the facility to delete the contents of any hard disk that it detects, makes this application a suitable utility for urgent situation data destruction.

(2) Eraser: This is next famous software and does a great work of cleaning your hard drive by removing all magnetic and solid state memory. It is an advanced security tool, which further allows you to entirely remove sensitive data by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns.

Now once one of these procedures is completed the drive is ready to be given away without fear of privacy invasion or fraud. These tools provide full confidence about your deleted sensitive personal information that is unrecoverable. In addition to this it also provide easy to comprehend and secure and affable graphical user interface GUI for permanent data removal.

Finally if you are still uncertain or want to ensure that deleted files are permanently gone, employ a file deletion management system. Today there are many file deletion programs designed to spot and permanently purge your computer of previously deleted files. These solutions initially scan a computer, find traces of previously erased data and finally remove discarded data including e-mail messages.

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How Data Recovery Programs Work

The Explanation And Working Of Data Recovery Programs:

When it comes to hard disk recovery, the best method is to insure that you will never need it. Besides making frequent backups, the following measures will keep your system running smoothly.

Antivirus Protection New viruses are invented every day, and system security is a concern for every business. Malicious software can damage your system to the point where it will not even boot up. The latest versions of Windows are the favorite targets of malicious programs such as spy ware and viruses, and it is helpful to use 2 or more antivirus/anti-spy ware programs to prevent destruction or theft of your data.

Spy ware Scanner The clues that spy ware is on a computer include a barrage of pop-up ads, a hijacked browser, a sudden or even repeated change of your computers Internet home page, the appearance of a new toolbar or new screen icons, malfunctioning keys, random error messages, and most of all, sluggish computer performance. Any system with access to the internet is prone to this problem, but there is software to block spy ware installation.

Further Precautions are to be taken:

In addition, make sure all employees using the office network do not download from unknown sites, and set your internet browser security at 'Medium' or higher. Install individual firewalls to prevent uninvited users from accessing your network. A firewall blocks unauthorized access to your computer and will alert you if spy ware already on your computer is sending information out. Purchase an anti-spy ware program from a vendor you know and trust. Set it to read on a regular basis, at least weekly and if possible each time you run your computer. Delete any programs the anti-spy ware program detects on your computer.

Computer Maintenance The best way to avoid having to use file recovery software is to be sure that no corrupt data is stored on your computer. Companies like Norton sell disk optimization programs keep your network running at top speed, correct problem files and maximize the available space on your hard disk. Run disk optimization and anti-virus programs at least once a week.

Protect Your Hard Disk:

Hard Disk Recovery There are disk recovery applications specifically geared to recovering files of a certain format, like graphics files as opposed to word document files, and there are general-purpose programs to hunt for any type of misplaced file regardless of the format. There is no program on the market that can guarantee recovery of every lost file, but you are able to increase your chances for recovery by selecting the appropriate program for the file you are trying to save.

Do-it-yourself programs are a lot less expensive than hiring a data retrieval company that specializes in information recovery, and to save money you should at least attempt to utilize this type of program before calling a professional.

In addition to recovering deleted files, there exist information recovery programs that can restore files after you have formatted the drive, after a power failure, natural disaster, or even files damaged by a computer virus.

Because of the duplication of data, it is possible to recover files from one or another disk when the need arises. As you might expect, RAID disk repair is quite a complicated process. However it is one of the most foolproof methods of data storage because the RAID architecture strategically distributes information randomly across the array. However, this sort of architecture demands the services of a recovery professional. Generally speaking when a hard drive is received by a data recovery firm, the first thing they do is evaluate it, and determine what recovery solution will be necessary. If the drive failure is a logical issue as mentioned earlier, then a scan of the drive will be performed to try and repair the file system corruption. Sometimes a partition can be repaired and the drive restored to the status that it was before the failure.

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