Are you concerned about cyber threats and having your confidential data stolen?
One of the best ways to protect your data is to conduct a hard drive wipe. This is when you remove your data from your hard drive. In the event your hard drive does get hacked, the hackers won’t have access to your data.
But how do you securely ensure a hard drive erasure and make sure you can access the data if you need it? Here’s what you need to do.
Back-Up Your Data
Unless you absolutely don’t ever need it again, you should always back it up. The safest method is to transfer this data to an external hard drive.
To ensure it remains safe, you want to distribute the data among a variety of hard drives and USB drives. Make sure you password-protect these external hard drives. Keep them in a safe place that a thief wouldn’t be able to find easily.
Hardware Products
The next step is to use hard drive eraser hardware for your hard drive wipe. This automates the process of removing your hard drive’s data so that you don’t have to do it manually.
The manual process is not only time-consuming but also doesn’t protect your data. There’s almost always a chance to recover your data after you’ve removed it from your hard drive. This is where hardware facilitates the process of data erasure. Once you’ve deleted your data, you should remove the hard drive from your computer. You should destroy the hard drive before throwing it away.
You can smash it with a hammer or even cut it apart with a saw. Make sure you cut and break apart the components and wires. This might seem extreme, but it’s the safest way to ensure that all your data gets deleted forever.
Alternatives For Your Data
The final step is to consider alternative methods to protect your data to reduce the need to always wipe your hard drive. Consider always saving your data to external hard drives. You’ll have to keep these hard drives plugged into your computer while you create a new project.
You can also store your data on cloud drives. These are also susceptible to hacks, of course, though many cloud drives have strong encryption protection. It’s also much easier to wipe your data from cloud drives.
You should also create as little data as possible. Only have your confidential data stored on a hard drive if it’s crucial for your business operations.
That’s How You Do A Hard Drive Wipe
Now you know how to operate a successful hard drive wipe, you can protect your data from cyber threats. The first step is to always back up your data in case you need to recover it later. Using external hard drives is always the best option.
Next, use hardware to delete data from your hard drive. Afterward, you need to destroy your hard drive before you discard it. Make sure you always look for alternatives for storing your data.
You can find more tips on data protection on our blog!
