Nowadays it is normal to take into consideration certain safety guidelines that include routines for the safekeeping of our private data when browsing, using e-mail or performing another task that involves the manipulation of any type of sensitive information that we can use in our daily work.
Users of computer equipment spend many hours of work or entertainment in front of the computer screen, leaving on the way letters, letters, passwords, photographs, browsing histories, financial data, videos, audio, emails and any other information that we forget quickly, because we think it has been completely erased from our hard drive but it was too true.
Why deleting your important data is not enough?
While we are the owners of our computer, the removal procedure is powerful enough to provide us with a secure way of deleting data, but it is not so important when we decide to sell the computer.
During the useful life of the hard disk of our PC, hundreds and thousands of personal data and private information are stored, although deleted, they will still be present on the disk, because the device removal procedure will only tell the operating system that space is available.
However, it will not erase the data that previously occupied that place. This technique is used by manufacturers to achieve better performance and performance, privileging the speed of response of equipment to the detriment of safety.
This is something simply verifiable by ourselves. For this, we have to use the software, of which there are several alternatives in the market, which allows us to recover deleted partition, and so we can check how easily that information we thought was deleted forever is recovered.
But the most important thing here is the reflection that emerges from this whole issue: If we can, others will too. Therefore, if we have decided to sell our computer, the fact that our information is still stored is an extremely dangerous point, so we must take a series of steps that will allow us to permanently eliminate our passage through the PC.
How someone can recover our deleted data?
Keep in mind that emptying the Windows Recycle Bin is not enough to keep us calm, because, in the case of the sale of the computer, the data that is still in the computer can be quickly recovered by its new owner, through the use partition recovery software that has been designed for that purpose.
At this point, and to completely eliminate any trace of this valuable information, it is best to clean the storage unit of our PC. This technique ensures that no user, regardless of their computer skills, can recover and view the files that we have removed from the PC.
As we know, removing personal folders and reinstalling the operating system from scratch or reinstalling it from the recovery partition is not enough to guarantee that our personal files cannot be recovered.
Therefore, it is recommended that in order to sell a PC in which potentially sensitive data can still exist, we must make sure to carry out a cleaning or “Wiping” process of the storage unit in order to avoid future problems.
But there is a problem with this technique, in case that for some reason we decided to leave the operating system intact, it may not be possible, and have an operating system with which to show the benefits of the PC to a possible buyer is absolutely necessary.
That is why in this article we will know the different ways to clean a hard drive to make it completely safe, and also a simple way to clean forever the personal data it may contain but keeping the operating system intact, which will be helpful when selling the team.
Popular methods to delete data definitely from a hard disk
Safety should never be taken lightly, this is a saying that must be taken into account in all situations of our life, from when we get up until we go to bed. Unfortunately, this is not seen by many users, who out of ignorance, or simple negligence, leave open doors that will soon be used by all types of criminals.
In this sense, the safe use of a computer requires some knowledge, certain technical details that if left to your fate can reveal much of us, very valuable information that will most likely end up in the wrong hands.
The best example we can provide is that of hard drives. When a unit has reached the end of its useful life, it is most likely that before discarding it, we will copy its data and then format it to avoid exposing our information.
However, the fact of formatting a disk does not mean that we are really removing the data it contains, we are basically hiding it from the operating system, but the files and documents are still there, ready for almost anyone with the appropriate software to reveal and use them. for your benefit.