{"id":24,"date":"2015-10-12T10:13:24","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T16:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/?p=24"},"modified":"2015-10-12T10:13:24","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T16:13:24","slug":"before-you-get-rid-of-that-old-pc-or-laptop-read-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/2015\/10\/12\/before-you-get-rid-of-that-old-pc-or-laptop-read-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Before you get rid of that old PC or Laptop, read this!"},"content":{"rendered":"

So you’re about to replace your PC or laptop. \u00a0You’ve transferred all your files and folders and are ready to sell it, donate it, give it to someone or throw it out. \u00a0Before you do that, STOP!<\/p>\n

Simply deleting files from your hard drive doesn’t make them go away. \u00a0All it does is remove the “pointer” to the files so that the operating system (OS) thinks that it’s OK to write new data to that space. \u00a0In other words, the data is still there until something else overwrites it, and even then, a good “undelete” program can recover it.<\/p>\n

OK, so how about formatting the drive? \u00a0Will that take care of it? \u00a0Nope. \u00a0A good undelete program can still recover the data.<\/p>\n

A recent study by Blancco Technology Group and Kroll Ontrack<\/a> showed that 48% of the used hard drives being sold on Amazon still had enough residual \u00a0data on them to reveal information on the previous owner.<\/p>\n

So what should you do? \u00a0There’s a number of options. \u00a0PCMDX sponsors an organization called Learning To Be the Light<\/a>\u00a0(2BTL). 2BTL\u00a0refurbishes PCs and gives them to low-income students in the Hoover City Schools. \u00a0Any student who is on free or reduced lunch, 2BTL\u00a0 will give them a PC, a monitor, keyboard, mouse and anything else they may need. \u00a0If they are a junior or senior in high school, they are also given a laptop in addition to the PC.<\/p>\n

When someone gives their PC to 2BTL to be refurbished,\u00a02BTL \u00a0will ask if they want the old hard drive. \u00a0If they do, then the old HD is removed and given to the person giving the PC. \u00a0This is by far the safest method because all of the data is on the HD and the HD doesn’t take up much space. \u00a0So if you’re giving away or selling your old PC, try to remove the HD first. \u00a0A replacement drive usually will cost under $100.<\/p>\n

What’s the downside of doing this? \u00a0Usually restoration software is on the HD, which means the recipient will have to order the restore software or re-install the OS, then re-install the drivers. \u00a0This can be complicated and expensive.<\/p>\n

If the person giving the PC to\u00a02BTL \u00a0doesn’t want the old HD, then\u00a02BTL \u00a0will use a software program called\u00a0Darik’s Boot and Nuke<\/a> (DBAN). \u00a0DBAN is a free program that will not erase the HD, but write data over the existing data 8 times, usually in the form of 0s and 1s. \u00a0After 8 times, the original data is not retrievable, even by the best forensic experts. \u00a0This will work on most non-SSD, non-RAID HDs.<\/p>\n

The downside of this process is that it’s very time consuming, sometimes taking over 24 hours per drive. \u00a0The recipient of the HD, if they plan on using it again in the same PC, will have to order restore software or install the OS, then drivers.<\/p>\n

Either method is inconvenient, however, having your personal information compromised is more inconvenient.<\/p>\n

If you need to sell or otherwise get rid of your PC or laptop, but don’t want to give it to Learning To Be the Light, PCMDX can take care of securing your HD before you hand your PC or laptop to the new owner. \u00a0Contact us today for a free estimate at 205-201-0389 or via e-mail at pcmdxal@gmail.com .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So you’re about to replace your PC or laptop. \u00a0You’ve transferred all your files and folders and are ready to sell it, donate it, give it to someone or throw it out. \u00a0Before you do that, STOP! Simply deleting files from your hard drive doesn’t make them go away. \u00a0All it does is remove the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,15,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-protection","category-data-security","category-hack-prevention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions\/26"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pcmdx.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}