“Wait! — Did I really just delete that file??”
Scene A:
“Oh no! I didn’t mean to delete that folder!”
“Not to worry — we’ll get that right back for you, let me just check under the hood.”
Scene B:
“Oh my gosh! Did you securely erase that secret project file before your computer was stolen?”
“Sure, I dragged it to the trash.”
“Oh no — they’re sure to get that blueprint now!!”
Most tech-savvy people know that when you empty your computer’s Trash, you’re not really deleting the files (or the data bits, the 1’s and 0’s) from your hard drive. All you’re really doing is telling the operating system to rewrite the index indicating where it should access that file information — you’re telling it to ignore the file information from now on. But those data bits are still on the hard disk, and that means in many cases, those files can be recovered — and it’s not hard to do so, with the right software tools.
Sometimes you don’t want files to be recoverable
Sometimes that’s a great thing — salvation when you lose a later version of a file, or when important files were accidentally trashed. But when security matters — when you need to know those files can’t be dredged up by a corporate spy, a new owner of your computer, a computer thief or any other prying eyes — you may need to do more than empty the trash. You’ll want to instruct the computer to overwrite all the bits that made up those files, so they can’t be reconstructed later.
First off, if you’re using a Seagate Self-Encrypting Drive (SED), it already has Seagate Instant Secure Erase (ISE) built-in, designed to protect data on hard drives by instantly resetting the drive back to factory settings and changing the encryption key so that any data remaining on the drive is cryptographically erased. This means all data on the drive is permanently and instantly unreadable. (You can learn more here about Seagate Instant Secure Erase Deployment Options.)
What if I don’t have a Self-Encrypting Drive?
If you don’t have an SED? Luckily, several third-party tools are available to make sure your files are gone forever.
If you’re using a Mac, things are pretty easy. As the infographic below quickly notes, Apple computers are ready-to-wipe because they come with a command called Secure Empty Trash, which deletes and overwrites the 1’s and 0’s that represent the contents of your trash can. Take the files you want to erase, drag them into your trash can, then in your command menu click Finder > Secure Empty Trash. Or, you can even erase your entire hard drive: open the application called Disk Utility, click in the left column on the name of the drive, click the “Erase” tab, then click “Security Options.”
For the PCs you may have, and for Solid State Drives which present a few special challenges for secure erasure, just follow the easy steps in the infographic below, compiled by the nice people at StudyWeb.com — these aren’t the only apps and methods to help you delete files, but this can serve as a handy printable how-to guide.
