Posted on 12/24/2013 9:08:06 PM PST by Sir Napsalot
If you get new electronics for Christmas and want to pass your old ones to someone else, (snip) ..... Consumer Reports says it's important to remove your personal data before you get rid of any electronic device.
"Everything from financial documents to photos, you want to make sure to delete all that information before you give it or sell it to anyone else," said Rich Fisco, Consumer Reports.
On many tablets there are built-in ways to wipe your data.
For example, on the iPad, go to Settings and selected "General." Look for the "Reset" option.
In the next window, choose "Erase All Content" and "Settings." A box will appear. Hit "Erase," and you're done.
Many newer laptops also have built-in systems. Go to the "Settings" control panel and choose "Change PC Settings."
In the next window, click on "Recovery." Underneath the heading "Remove Everything" and "Reinstall Windows," click on "Get Started." In the box that comes up, click on "Fully Clean the Drive."
"If you don't have any ways built into the device that can securely wipe the data for you, you're going to have to use a third-party application," said Fisco.
Consumer Reports recommends D-BAN, which you can download for free at dban.org. It's easy to use and will take care erasing all your personal data.
You also want to erase all your personal information from old phones when you're done with them and even gaming systems.
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
bfl
Remove hard disk and roast on open flame bbq one hour.
For my laptops, I remove the hard drive and go target shooting with my 12 gauge...
Yeah, because destroying it and making your computer worth next to nothing makes so much more sense than just deleting the partition and re-creating it.
LOL!
And whatever you do, for goodness sake, get rid of the doggy porn!
There are low level solutions / utilities that can read disk drives even after multiple over-write passes. It takes serious physical damage to subvert recovery.
d-ban is a great utility simply for resurrecting clean partitions.
BTW, as a practical matter, never give away or toss your drives.
You’re assuming the old drives have value.
New drives are very cheap. Your personal information is not.
Read the manual. Most have a simple procedure to reset everything back to the factory settings clearing out all saved data. Don't count on a dealer to do it for you.
Dr. Thinking’s Low Level Format With Extreme Prejudice: Open hard drive case, remove aluminum or glass platters (the actual disks), run through shredder.
I took it to the yard and watered it well.
In order to ensure there are no legacy bread crumbs of your data on a drive you need to Di-mil.
I use a product called “Eraser” and am constantly overwriting old files 7(DoD or Schnier. I mix em up) times and when it comes to give the thing to a needy person I take a dental pick to each bit and byte and then run Guttman(35 passes) over whatever is left.
I’ve tried to use various tools for recovery to ensure I zapped it clean and I haven’t been able to recover a thing after that.
I do the same thing on cell phones if I give one to a needy person.
I pull everything I want off, clean out any personal Ident’s, load it back up with a couple super large files, run a 7 pass to erase and finally a 35 pass on free storage.
If they can get anything off there then it’s theirs and they are better than me....never...
I have those instructions for my vehicles in the safe.
When I get rid of a vehicle I wipe it...
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