How to Encrypt and Erase a Hard Drive

By Michael Brown
July 31st, 2009

We discussed the importance of backing up the data stored on your computer’s hard drive in a previous story. But what happens if your computer is lost or stolen? Notebooks are particularly vulnerable. A thoroughly executed back-up plan will alleviate data loss, but do you want strangers perusing the highly personal information you’ve stored on that machine? We didn’t think so; that’s why we put together this guide to keeping your electronic data secure.

First, we’ll take you through the process of encrypting the data on your hard drive, so that you can use passwords to control who can see it. And since no computer lasts forever, we’ll show you how to scrub your hard drive so that no one will ever be able to retrieve anything from it when you decide it’s time to put it out to pasture.

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