Why You'll be Wanting a
Clean Hard Drive

A clean hard drive is one that has all data removed from it. The data has been wiped from the disk in such a way that even special recovery software cannot retrieve it. If you want to guarantee that data is completely removed form the hard drive then don't count on operating system supplied programs such as delete, format, or the Recycle Bin. These programs merely remove the file name from directory but they do not erase the data from the disk.

When you've used a computer for many years, sensitive data starts to accumulate; your email files increase; you save various financial and tax data on your computer; and you might even keep medical information on your computer. Every person's situation is unique, but it's likely that you've accumulated information you don't want others to see. You might even have forgotten some of the information you put on that disk.

If you're going to get rid of your hard drive, a study done by two MIT students, demonstrates why you need a clean hard drive. The two students purchased 158 old drives on the Web and at swap meets. When they examined the drives, they found thousands of credit card numbers and various other personal and corporate financial data. In the wrong hands, this data could have caused trouble. Don't let it be your data.

If you plan to give your drive to someone you know and trust, then you probably don't need to go trough the trouble of erasing the hard drive. But in any other situation you don’t want to take the chance that someone with malicious intent will dig through the data in your old hard drive.

The easiest way to wipe your old hard drive is to get a utility specifically designed to erase your disk such that the data is beyond recovery. There are many commercial and freeware utilities that will do this for you. The basic task this disk utility needs to do is rewrite all the sectors on the disk with several different data patterns. The US Department of Defense standard 5220.22-M says that this overwrite process should be done three times.

If your don't want to get a disk cleaning program then at least try to make it harder for a determined sleuth by reloading the operating system with all the features. This won't guarantee a clean hard drive but it will overwrite the beginning part of the disk.

If you have some mechanical abilities, there is another method you might want to consider. Since old hard drives are so small that they're worth almost nothing, you could open the hard drive case to permanently erase the drive. Remove the platters from the spindle and pound them thoroughly with a hammer or some other destructive object. While you’re at it, don't forget to take out the nice magnets at the end of the actuator arm. The hard drive magnets are much stronger than ordinary and they make nice refrigerator magnets. You can even run the magnets over the surface of the platters. A video on YouTube shows someone blistering a platter with a blowtorch.

If you're at all concerned about the data on your old hard drive, then get this modestly priced program to help copy and clean your old hard drive.

Return from Clean Hard Drive to Hard Drive Upgrade