A technician has received new computers to upgrade the marketing department on a large company. The old computers are to be refreshed and donated as part of company policy. Data contained on the…

The correct answer is D. Multipass overwrite. A multipass overwrite (e.g., DoD 5220.22-M standard) writes multiple passes of random data patterns over the entire drive, making original data forensically unrecoverable while leaving the drive physically functional for reuse-making it ideal for donated equipment. A single…

Hardware

Question

A technician has received new computers to upgrade the marketing department on a large company. The old computers are to be refreshed and donated as part of company policy. Data contained on the drives needs to be inaccessible prior to donation. Which of the following methods BEST achieves this goal?

Options

ASingle drive wipe
BDegaussing
CLow-level format
DMultipass overwrite

How the community answered

(32 responses)

A
3% (1)
B
9% (3)
C
6% (2)
D
81% (26)

Explanation

A multipass overwrite (e.g., DoD 5220.22-M standard) writes multiple passes of random data patterns over the entire drive, making original data forensically unrecoverable while leaving the drive physically functional for reuse-making it ideal for donated equipment. A single drive wipe (A) or low-level format (C) performs only one pass, which may be insufficient against recovery tools. Degaussing (B) uses a strong magnetic field to erase data but renders the drive physically unusable, making it unsuitable for donation. Multipass overwrite is the only method that achieves both security and drive reusability.

Topics

#data sanitization#multipass overwrite#secure disposal#drive wipe

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