

Data wiping doesn’t achieve true data sanitization because it doesn’t include verification that the data is gone. So, if deleting isn’t how you completely remove data, you should wipe that data instead, right? Until the data has been overwritten, it remains easily recoverable. You may already know that deleting data doesn’t completely remove that data it only “hides” the data on a storage device.
#How to use blancco drive eraser software
The data erasure software will produce a tamper-proof certificate containing information that the erasure has been successful and written to all sectors of the device, along with data about the device and standard used.Īfter following these steps, you can feel confident that the data is gone for good, and you’ve achieved data sanitization.The data erasure software will verify the overwriting methodology has been successful and removed data across the entire device.Perform the data erasure according to the software’s instructions.Choose a specific data erasure standard, based on your industry and organization’s unique needs.

When the hard drive erasure is complete, there will be no way to get anything on the drive back. Whether you want to repurpose the drives, resell them or completely remove the data before you physically destroy them, complete data removal is key to achieving data sanitization. Following the four steps above is the only way to ensure data sanitization.There are many reasons why organizations need to wipe hard drives. Following a reformat, some or most of the data can be recoverable with forensics tools available online. Reformatting is performed on a working disk drive to eliminate its contents. Reformatting is one popular way to erase a hard drive, but unfortunately, it can leave data behind.

As an added benefit organizations save money and protect the environment because they’re able to reuse or resale devices after secure erasure. This process renders the data unrecoverable and achieves data sanitization.ĭata erasure software is one of the ways to achieve data sanitization, due to the validation process to ensure the data was successfully overwritten and the auditable reporting it produces. Data Erasure: Completely Erase a Hard Driveĭata erasure is defined as the software-based method of securely overwriting data from any data storage device using zeros and ones onto all sectors of the device.
#How to use blancco drive eraser verification
Once the erasure, verification and certification are complete, you have achieved data sanitization and completely erased your hard drive.

4 Steps to Completely Erase a Hard Drive with Data Erasure Software: To completely erase a hard drive, there are four steps you must take, including: choosing a standard, overwriting the data, verifying the overwrite and obtaining a tamper-proof certificate to prove the erasure was successful. Whether you choose physical destruction, degaussing, wiping, erasure or another method is up to you, but some methods are more effective than others. There are many ways to remove data from a hard drive-but only one way to completely erase one.
