On Sep 6, 6:52*pm, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote:

Organized crime has not got to that level, but they could well go
beyond what ordinary reformatting and erase utilities can do.

I wasn't talking about ordinary reformatting and erase utilities.

From the article I cited:
Secure Erase overwrites every single track on the hard drive. That
includes the data on “bad blocks”, the data left at the end of partly
overwritten blocks, directories, everything. There is no data recovery
from Secure Erase.

Says who?
The National Security Agency, for one. And the National Institute for
Standards and Testing (NIST), who give it a higher security rating
than external block overwrite software that you’d have to buy.
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The utility we used overwrites and erases every *bit* (not byte) on
the drive several times. There wouldn't be much left to find, even
for an electron microscope, and going to those kinds of lengths would
likely cost more than the net worths of the folks on this group who'd
be concerned - i.e. not bloody likely/economically worthwhile.

Here's a tip: We don't even keep sensitive information ON hard drives
for these and other reasons. That kind of data might best be kept on
CDs (backups in a safe deposit box or fire safe) that are easier to
destroy if/when necessary.

IMO, everyone should read a few articles on home computer security and
decide what's best for them.

Doc