Recently I was asked ,

“What happens to any leftover data that may still be on my old computer or hard drive? “  

A valid question that should be addressed.

Any hard disk drives present will be removed from equipment, tested for functionality, and, if found to be functional, all data will be immediately destroyed  using a program called KillDisk  Professional by LSoft Technologies on a separate pc specifically set up with no other hard drives for this sole purpose.

Under no circumstances will any existing data be even attempted to be accessed.This specific test pc boots from the cd and then proceeds to irretrievably destroy all data , including disk partitions, on the attached hard drive.

   This program conforms to US Department of Defense's standards (5220.22-M) for clearing and sanitizing standard sensitive information.  If you use FDISK, FORMAT utilities, or the  DELETE operating system commands for data removal, there is always a chance to recover deleted data (using undelete file or some data recovery software) and use against the owner's will.  A free , but somewhat less secure version of the program (but still very,very effective) is available from their website at http://www.killdisk.com  for home use before the disposal of the pc.

  I have extensive experience in the destruction of data from computers to be scrapped and sold,  most recently with the Pennzoil-Quaker State Co. at Pennzoil Place, 700 Milam in Houston, Texas, where I was employed to oversee the return of leased company wide laptops, servers, and desktop pc’s from all across the US , as well as from their subsidiaries such as Jiffy-Lube . In my time there, I removed sensitive data from well over 1000 hard drives in such lease turn-in equipment.

    Should anyone have any questions, feel free to contact me on my personal cell phone at 419-283-1489 or email me at BBolinsky@NWOhioComputers.com  .