How to Avoid the Recovery of Personal Data

In an age that offers the possibility of computer data recovery, many people are concerned about the privacy factor when deleting information of a sensitive nature. Since data recovery - on one level or another - is utilized on a daily basis by various corporations and law enforcement agencies, information is being garnered that one might otherwise have thought was safely deleted and thrown in the electronic trash.

Before attempting to set up a scenario which will eliminate the possibility of data recovery, you must first understand how information is saved on a computer drive. When, for instance, a word processing document is saved on your hard drive, it occupies a particular space within the computer's memory. Should changes be made to the document which would precipitate resaving the information, the newest version will over-write the one that was previously contained within the memory. This layering of data eliminates the need for excessive memory usage and ensures that only the most recent version will be available when a document is accessed. It is this process that makes data recovery possible, since information is still stored within some area of the computer's memory, even after deletion.

Since anyone with a bit of computer savvy - who possesses the tools and knowledge to do so - can initiate data recovery, sensitive information can be retrieved without difficulty. For those who are concerned about the possible violation of such information, there are methods that will make this data unavailable, even if recovery has been performed. By applying the "over-write" philosophy to the scenario, you can secure your data from those who would attempt recovery, provided that you have not saved some version of this document in a different location, or under a different name on the computer's hard drive.

How to Avoid the Recovery of Personal Data

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