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The most secure way of responding to an erasure order is by wiping the files or drives in question.In the event that businesses are given an erasure order, they must permanently delete all of the data pertaining to that individual.Upon request, individuals can have their personal data deleted by companies.Regardless of who you are, data wiping is important as it assures that your sensitive information won’t be viewed by others. For companies, you will also want to secure your business from external threats and ensure that your customers’ private data isn’t made public. This has been especially important since the passing of GDPR and the ‘ Right to Be Forgotten’: This means that formatting your hard drive isn’t a secure way of protecting your data. Data will still exist on the hard drive and can be recovered by using file recovery software. Unlike data wiping, however, formatting doesn’t permanently erase your information. This procedure allows you to carry out a fresh installation of an operating system by unlinking all of the files in the hard drive’s file system.
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How Is Wiping Different Than Formatting?įormatting a hard drive is another method of trying to remove all data. This is because data saved to a hard drive leaves a lasting trail that remains even after your files have been deleted. So if you want your private information to vanish forever, you need to make sure you’re wiping your data.
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Also known as file shredding, the act of wiping data from your computer is not as simple as hitting the delete button. What Is Data Wiping?ĭata wiping is a term used to describe the process of permanently removing the content of a file or disk space. Whatever the reason, this simple guide will provide you with all the information you need on data wiping and give you an outline of how to get started. If you are working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you may also need to re-purpose an old device by securely removing all of the existing data. There are a number of reasons why you should consider wiping your computer hard drives in a secure way. You may want to protect confidential information, safeguard your customers’ identity, or permanently destroy files before giving away or getting rid of your hard drive.
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