Every day people input and store all types of information into home and business computers including information on credit cards, medical records, private photos, customers, proprietary information and a very wide variety of other personal and business information. At the same time, every day people delete information thinking that is gone and can no longer be accessed by others. Most people have the misconception that one or more of the following activities will ensure information is no longer accessible:

• Deleting info to the recycle bin
• Deleting info out of recycle bin
• Deleting emails
• Deleting text messages (different subject relating to cell phone but has same problem)
• Partitioning disks
• Reformatting disks
• Breaking a computer up and throwing it away
• Throwing a hard drive in a river or mud field

Truth is none of these activities deletes all information or guarantees that information will not be accessible by others. In many of the cases listed above all the information in question will still be accessible, while in other cases only part of the data will be accessible. Information is retained on the hard drive of a computer (or on a cell phone) until the date is actually overridden. When you delete and item, only the pointer to that item is actaully deleted. Since the pointer is deleted a typical user can no longer see the information but the information itself is still on the hard drive and perfectly recoverable. While this is a simplified view and there are exceptions, the reality is that the vast majority of the time you delete information from your computer ten information is still on the hard drive and recoverable.

Some cases where this is of particular importance include:

• When you throw a computer away
• When you donate a computer
• When you sell a computer
• When a computer is stolenli>
• When a computer is pawned

In all of these cases you may be giving the recipient way more information than you ever dreamed of.

Data deletion and recovery is a specialized filed but it is important that you, your staff and your friends are aware of the implications of not properly deleting data . If you are selling, donating or throwing away a computer ensure that it is properly disposed of and that all data drives are properly cleared. On the other hand if you think you have lost information on a computer there is a very good chance that it is recoverable.