What's on Your Hard Drive?

In this study, O&O examined 200 used hard disks that were purchased on eBay. The first thing to note here is that if you plan to sell your used hard disks, be sure to wipe them completely of your old data. Failing to do so can cause you to expose unwanted data to the hardware's new owner. And if you do not remove the software then the new owner may be able to use software that you never intended to sell to them. If you keep using that software, too, then one of you is breaking the terms of the software's licensing.

The results of the study: after scanning the drives, more than 70% them contained some type of personal or business data. Of the 3.3 million files found on the drives, analysts at O&O were able to reconstruct more than 40,000 Word Documents, about 15,000 Excel Spreadsheets, and around 50 e-mail mailboxes containing their entire message stashes still intact from previous users.

Have you ever sold an old PC or laptop computer? Did you make sure that you completely removed the software and data on the disk drives of that computer? What might the new owner's now know about you? Did you store information about your bank accounts? credit cards? performance evaluations? product roll-outs? competitive information? It is really kind of scary if you think about.

Of course, O&O Software has its own agenda in releasing this study. The company markets and sells products to help aid in the removal and recovery of data from hard disks.

To prevent the danger of such misuse, the study presents users with tips for improving the protection of their data on their hard disks. And, of course, some of those tips include using O&O's products. But if you are going to sell or discard an old computer, using a product that simplifies the removal of confidential data from that machine might be a very wise investment, indeed.

Download a copy of this study here Data Data Everywhere 2005.

© 2005, Mullins Consulting, Inc.