Destroying Data

[krazykarl]

Do you guys destroy your hard drives before you throw them out, or do a complete wipe before you sell them?

I was doing this at work the other day, and raised an interesting question. How many home users actually destroy possibly sensitive data before letting the hard drive out of thier hands. How about CD-r's? do you guys smash them or just chuck them?

[Garbarsardar]

Absolutely. During my PhD, an idiot forgot to do that. There were data on his hard drive from a drug trial with names of patients. The Uni paid a crazy amount in settlement...not to mention the rep hit.

[PyrrhusIV]

Format, format, delete etc. Oh, did I forget to say Magnets?

[Incinerate_IV]

I really don't have much sensitive stuff on my hard drive, when I have sensitive stuff, I always write them down. I don't trust my hard drive, it failed on me already

[Spiff]

Well i tend to only replace hard drives when they physically stop working, so nah i dont bother.

But yes if i was in the market of selling things to friends/ebay/public in general, then i think it's only prudent to make sure any personal information cannot be recovered.