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| Version 8 | Version 9 |
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| Hard drive destruction 'crucial' | Hard drive destruction 'crucial' |
| (5 days later) | |
| The only way to stop fraudsters stealing information from old computer hard drives is by destroying them completely, a study has found. | The only way to stop fraudsters stealing information from old computer hard drives is by destroying them completely, a study has found. |
| Which? Computing magazine recovered 22,000 "deleted" files from eight computers purchased on eBay. | Which? Computing magazine recovered 22,000 "deleted" files from eight computers purchased on eBay. |
| Freely available software can be used to recover files that users think they have permanently deleted. | Freely available software can be used to recover files that users think they have permanently deleted. |
| While Which? recommends smashing hard drives with a hammer, experts say for most consumers that's a step too far. | While Which? recommends smashing hard drives with a hammer, experts say for most consumers that's a step too far. |
| Criminals source old computers from internet auction sites or in rubbish tips, to find users' valuable details, and a number of recent cases have shown the dangers in disposing of second-hand equipment. | Criminals source old computers from internet auction sites or in rubbish tips, to find users' valuable details, and a number of recent cases have shown the dangers in disposing of second-hand equipment. |
| A number of software solutions exist to more definitively erase files and information. | A number of software solutions exist to more definitively erase files and information. |
| The most straightforward solution, according to Which?, is complete destruction - and it recommends using a hammer - but it should be noted that destroying the hard drive could release toxic materials when smashed. | |
| It must be done with caution also because those smithereens contain environmentally harmful materials so they should be recycled - for instance at the vendor from whom a new hard drive is purchased. | |
| Worth it? | Worth it? |
| However experts advise that even a treatment with a hammer may not be the end of your data. | However experts advise that even a treatment with a hammer may not be the end of your data. |
| Expensive and sophisticated techniques could be used to recover deleted data, even from a hard drive platter that has been physically damaged. | Expensive and sophisticated techniques could be used to recover deleted data, even from a hard drive platter that has been physically damaged. |
| But for most people, the freely available deleting software or a simple hard drive formatting procedure should make the data sufficiently difficult to retrieve as to not be worth a criminal's time. | But for most people, the freely available deleting software or a simple hard drive formatting procedure should make the data sufficiently difficult to retrieve as to not be worth a criminal's time. |
| "You can get a credit card number on the internet for about ten pounds from credit card thieves," says Rupert Goodwins, editor of technology news website ZDNet. | "You can get a credit card number on the internet for about ten pounds from credit card thieves," says Rupert Goodwins, editor of technology news website ZDNet. |
| "So nobody's going to spend more than ten pounds trying to nick your credit card number off your hard disk." | "So nobody's going to spend more than ten pounds trying to nick your credit card number off your hard disk." |
| Mr Goodwins argues that the free software is as effective as the hammer - indeed, he argues it is as effective as the software that can be quite costly - and says that for reasons of safety he himself would not take the hammer approach. | |
| "Unless you're a spook or the kingpin of a criminal consortium, there's no need to go out and buy deleting software and no need to put a hammer through the damned thing," Mr Goodwins told the BBC. | "Unless you're a spook or the kingpin of a criminal consortium, there's no need to go out and buy deleting software and no need to put a hammer through the damned thing," Mr Goodwins told the BBC. |
| "If you're that worried, get rid of it properly: burn it or put it in acid." | "If you're that worried, get rid of it properly: burn it or put it in acid." |
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| Darren Waters investigates what it takes to destroy a hard drive and its data |