beware if you are getting rid of your computer?

Question

have you read the papers today where people in other countries are being sent your old computers from recycling dumps and then finding vital info from your harddrive to steal your identity.if you are donating your comp.to a charity or dumping it GET RID OF YOUR HARD DRIVE.THERE WAS ALSO A PROGRAM ON TV ABOUT THIS PROBLEM.YOU HAVE BEN WARNED

Answer 1

thanks

Answer 2

You are correct. Data can be retrieved from any hard disk even when it has been deleted. Someone who knows what they are doing can even retrieve data from a hard drive that has been overwritten by 'shredding software'. The write-heads on a hard drive never line up exactly with the previous track of data that they are overwriting. This means that with a bit of tinkering you can get data from either side of the shredding track, and pull back a significant amount of data.

My advice is to reuse your old HD as a second drive in your new PC.

If you are really concerned about the data on your drive, the only way to totally destroy the data surfaces is using a microwave oven. Remove the data platters from the drive and cook for about 10-20secs on full power (at your own risk, of course). I suggest you use an old microwave though (or someone Else's!) as it can be rather smelly and a bit explosive. Preferably do this outside with the microwave on an extension lead where you can cut the power from a distance. THIS IS NOT WHAT MICROWAVE OVENS WERE DESIGNED FOR!

Anyway, enjoy..... responsibly.

Answer 3

It really is incredible that people continue to dump old pc's with the hard drives still intact.

Please, if you are going to dispose of a computer, even by giving it to a friend, remove the hard drive and destroy it with a hammer.

Formatting or partitioning the drive does NOT remove any of the data already on the drive, it just tells the computer that it is no longer required and can be overwritten.

Take care people, throwing away an old pc with the hard drive installed is just like throwing away a filing cabinet with all the folders still inside and only the indexing removed.

Answer 4

I saw the news story on this, these computers were ending up in Nigeria and other places, were a gang of techie thieves was extracting info from the harddrives, like account details(we log onto internet banking all the time). The reporter even brought the hardrive back to its original owner in the uk and read out his account details.

Cybercrime has taken on an all new meaning...

Answer 5

the only way to erase your hard disk is to use a utility like evidence eliminator, this overwrites the content of you erased files with x's, this effectively leaves the disk empty (good) with no retrievable data (even better). If you do a low level format (tricky these days) it will also achieve the same thing. You will need to do a destructive format and re-allocation of the bad sectors, this utility is normally available in the bios of your machine. Best thing to do if you can't do either of these is remove the hard drive (easy) and then flatten it with a hammer (seriously), physically damaged disks are near impossible to retrieve data from.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 6

Well, you just have to make sure you do a very secure data wipe on the hard disk. No need to get rid of it.
Mac users have security erase options in Disk Utility. Can't tell you where to look in Windoze, sorry.

I expect many people don't consider this though, even when selling hardware with their own country. No need to be xenophobic about it!

Answer 7

Not really a question, but certainly a good point. If you are going to donate your computer remove the hard disk and destroy it or store it somewhere safe. If you don't know how to do that find a program that will scramble the hard disk for you. You can probably download one from tucows.com or download.com.

Answer 8

Most large companies do not donate machines for two reasons and this is one of them, the other is liability.

There are freeware or shareware programmes available which fire repeated bytes at your hardisk. Norton Ghost does this as well. Otherwise get a screwdriver and a magnet.

Answer 9

You can erase a hard drive to a point that will make it very difficult to retrieve info from it. It would require program(s) that cost several thousand dollars and technical skills to retrieve any info. This is a highly rated free program and is recommended by many pro's.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4221.html

Answer 10

I recommend dban it can be booted on a cdrom or even a 3.44
floppy a good wipe takes many hours I let it do multiple wipes for
2 days before I donate computers.

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Answer 11

Thank you for that helpful information but I won't be in any hurry to give my computer to breeding etheopians in 3rd world countries nor any other of my belongings.