How to Wipe a Hard Drive

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A Hard Drive Cleaner is a Huge Necessity to Wipe Hard Drive


WipeDrive protects you from identity theft



Whether you have a Mac or PC, right now on your computer there is information that is both personal and private. And you probably want it to stay that way.

These traces of your private data are easily accessible by anyone with the right software. Even if you have deleted these files, the traces of them still exist and they can be restored and used by anyone.

This information includes your credit card #'s, emails, contact info, passwords and usernames, and even tax returns.

Identity thieves love to find old, discarded computers and hard drives because they know that can get enough information out of the average hard drive to steal someone's identity and get all kinds of information about them. You know your hard drive will end up somewhere someday when you upgrade your computer so make sure you digitally shred these personal files permanently.

4 Top Programs for Erasing Hard Drive

Reasons you Need to Erase and Wipe Your Hard Drive Clean

* There is private and sensitive data on your computer.

* If you are giving your computer to someone or recycling it.

* If you just want to erase all the data off the hard drive before you throw it away. (you never know who may find it in the trash.)

* If you want to put your computer on eBay or sell it elsewhere.

* You simply want to avoid having your identity stolen with information on your hard drive.

Can't I Just Format My Hard Drive and Erase the Data on My Computer?

The simple answer is NO!



Formatting your hard drive is a good thing to do once in a while to clean things up on your computer, but formatting your hard drive will NOT erase this private information or make it impossible for that data to be recovered.

Even after a hard drive format your data will still be there, easily accessible for any identity thief. If you really want to wipe your hard drive it will take more than just a format to accomplish this.

Be careful what you read out there too. Identity thieves want you to think that a format will erase all your private data." />

So What is The Best Way to Wipe My Hard Drive Clean?

Let's permanently erase those personal files on your computer.

If you want to total erase any evidence on your pc you need a software program. This software will shred those deleted files multiple times so it can never be recovered.

Now there are different kinds of software that deleted files from your computer. Make sure you download a program that is approved by the Department of Defense so you know you are getting the same software the government uses to delete their files. So you KNOW that's got to be good stuff.

One such program that will erase all your personal files and one of the best is called WipeDrive, which you can get here.

or click the banner below to check it out.


Buy WipeDrive, Get MediaWiper Free!


My Zimbio

If Your Hard Drive Ends Up Here...

Make sure you have wiped your hard drive clean.. over and over again

If you have discarded or thrown away your old computer, you have sensitive information that can end up here, in a trash heap of other computers. And believe it or not, your private data can be recovered by anyone with the right software.

That's why I highly suggest you get WipeDrive.

If you are still paranoid... Destroy that Hard Drive for Good!

with a torch, hammer, axe, trash compactor...

Not all of us can afford the real hard drive shredders that the government uses to literally rip apart the hard drives to make sure they are never used again. After all, otherwise we would all know who shot JFK. So here are some ideas to physically destroy that hard drive beyond recognition, if you really can't sleep at night because you worry about your computer's sensitive information getting out there.

Try taking a hammer to the hard drive:


Smash it to pieces with any large object you can pick up:


Try Torching it with Gas or Kerosene. I like Mine extra crispy:


Just don't go too overboard with this. I mean, you can be TOO paranoid:


Or just do it the easy way and click the banner below to start wiping that hard drive today.

WipeDrive-Completely wipe your hard drive

Let me know what you think.

Tell me if you already have software for deleting data on your hard drive.

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  • Reply
    cctvdvr Jul 31, 2010 @ 10:08 pm | delete
    Installing a hard drive is a medium level job. If you are confident in yourself and would like to save the money a computer guy would charge to do it, go ahead and do it yourself. It won't be that bad. The physical installation is actually pretty easy. Getting it ready for use takes a little longer.

    The worst part about installing hard drives is setting the jumpers on the drive so that it works correctly with your current hardware. You only need to worry about jumpers if you are using an IDE hard drive. IDE hard drives have settings for master, slave and cable select. This is because, for an IDE drive, it matters. For Serial ATA drives (SATA), you don't need to worry about jumpers at all. Now that SATA is becoming much more prevalent than IDE, it is becoming a lot less likely that you will need to worry about jumpers during this process.

    Before installation, inspect the inside of the computer's case and determine where you want the drive to go. If you are using an IDE hard drive, you want to optimally connect the drive on a different IDE channel than your DVD/CD drives. Most motherboards have two IDE channel connectors. So you would put your disc drives on IDE2 and your hard drives on IDE1. For SATA drives, your life, again, got easier. SATA gets it's own channel and, as of this date, SATA DVD drives are very uncommon.

Blogs about erasing hard drives and deleting browsing history

Tips: Protect against online fraud
Before the IT team could wipe the hard drive, his email account had been compromised. The hacker found Shah's birth date, address, phone number, credit card details-which Shah shared over a chat with his wife-and information on his investments.
Green Delete wipes data from hard drives for safer IT recycling
By Judith Nemes Green Delete Inc. picked a pretty good time to hang out its shingle. The Chicago-based firm, which has been open a year, helps other companies erase data on computer hard drives and servers before they get rid of the equipment.
WiebeTech Drive eRazer Ultra provides super-secure drive wiping
by Steven Sande Feb 7th 2012 at 7:00PM For Mac repair shops, enterprise tech support teams, and consultants who need to wipe all data off of hard drives before selling or recycling old Macs, there's now a fast way to erase those drives without tying up ...
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Back up any data you may already have stored (on an external hard drive or a portable flash drive), organize your desktop icons, empty your computer's trash on a regular basis, and clear out any programs you don't use. This will help free up space and ...

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