(Photograph by Burcu Avsar)
Your old hard drive holds a treasure trove of info for would-be identity thieves. Simply deleting your files or reformatting the drive won't truly blank the platters. "Formatting just kind of rearranges stuff on the hard drive," says Art Costigan, an information security analyst with Global Network Security Consultants. "Anyone who knows anything about hard drives can unformat the drive and restore it to its previous condition." Here are two surefire ways to zap your files for good. Charitable strategy: Purchase disk-cleaning software, such as Evidence Eliminator or cyberCide, that eliminates files by writing zeros over all the bits—yet still leaves the drive usable for others. That way, instead of clogging up landfills, you can help out those in need. TheNational Cristina Foundation donates old drives to schools and public agencies. Paranoid strategy: Nothing beats good, old-fashioned physical destruction. Government agencies use professional hard-drive shredders; you can approximate the effect with a 12-in. drill bit. Use a drill driver to puncture the platter in at least four places. Your hard drive will have taken its last spin.http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/skills/4284709
