How to Perform Data Wipe before
selling PC
Buying
a computer can be tricky. But more complicated is to get rid of
it. During its useful life, your computer's hard drive, where your
documents and programs are permanently stored, stores tons of personal
data. From passwords and Internet browsing histories to emails and files
that we have supposedly Wiped but which, as you will see soon, is not even remotely
so.
One
of the most chilling news that one discovers when diving into the world of PCs,
digital cameras, cell phones and notebooks is that when we Wipe a file the
device only marks the space occupied by the file on the disk (or on the memory
card phone or camera) as free to be used again. But the data is not Wiped. Why? Because
it would take too long and, therefore, the speed of response of the machine is
prioritized over safety. Also, deleting the data is technically
unnecessary, in the same way that before we did not need to erase a cassette to
record something else on it.
In
short, throwing a document into the Windows trash can (the Recycle Bin )
and then choosing Empty Recycle Bin does not erase the information
contained in that text or in that photo. Thus, after a few years, the disk
is strewn with personal data that, mistakenly, we believed we had Wiped.
The
only true way to destroy a file is to employ a technique called secure
erase or wiping. With a special program, each segment of the
disk surface where the file resides is overwritten several times with random
strings of zeros and ones. It is to digital files what the shredder is to
paper documents.
There
are several free applications to carry out this secure deletion on PCs and,
with a memory card reader connected to the machine ($ 50), it is also possible
to Wipe all data from cameras and cell phones, as long as we have taken the
precaution of choose the card as the only storage medium.
The
best known of these programs is Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), for
Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Mac OS X. You have to download the trial version)
which, after all After 30 days, you will lose some features but retain the
secure erase and file encryption feature. To obtain PGP, however, it is
necessary to fill out a form with a quantity of personal data.
Another
good Data Wiping Software is Data
Wipe - File Eraser Software, software from the Indian company Unistal Systems Pvt. Ltd. Simple to use
and install.
Literally
impossible to recover Wiped files safely. That's what it's about,
actually. Second, wiping writes between 3 and 35 times the area
where the file is, so deleting a large document can take a long time
(approximately 1 minute for every 150 megabytes).
Now,
how to ensure that when selling the equipment the entire disk has been
effectively erased, without leaving all those traces that were stored with
use? The answer is Darik's Boot and Nuke (Dban), a free software for
secure erasure of entire disks. It is not, to be clear, software that you
can play with or experiment with. The files downloaded from the Internet are
used to create a floppy disk, CD, DVD or memory key to boot the PC. Once
the computer is started with this disk, and after a warning that we advise you
to take into account, the program irretrievably wipes the entire
drive. You must read the instructions and do not forget a Dban disc in the
CD or floppy drive.
Once
the process is finished, which can last from 12 to 24 hours, depending on the
size and speed of the disk, the computer will obviously no longer have Windows,
programs, documents, or anything, except random series of ones and zeros. So
yes, it will be safe to put it up for sale.
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