Because of today’s scary world of identity theft, many computer owners seek ways to protect, or in some cases, delete their entire hard drives. As we upgrade to new machines it is important that hard drives are clean and clear of any personal information before disposing or donating.

The simplest way to erase your computer’s hard drive is to purchase one of the many new software programs designed to do just that. Commonly referred to as ‘wiping’, the software will search out all stored data, passwords and personal information and erase it.

However, many computer experts debate if there is such a thing as deleting permanently.  Recently the National Association for Information Destruction announced that it would not condone the use of most wiping software programs. Their stance is that if the software is not installed correctly anybody with purposeful intent could gain access to the very information that you are trying to destroy.

Experts suggest that to effectively erase a hard drive you must attack it from many angles.  To avoid not installing wiping software correctly, consider having a computer expert install it. Your average large company will run the wiping software upwards of thirty times before they consider it clean. The average computer consumer should achieve the same effect if they are willing to spend the time.  Most experts agree that a quick scan to clean a drive is not powerful enough. The average time that a computer tech would recommend you spend running wiping software is five hours.

The next step should be reformatting the operating system. Run what is called an unconditional format and specify it to reach all system and file types.

The most effective way to really and truly delete or erase your hard drive is to destroy it.  For this all you need is a drill and the manpower to pierce your equipment.