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CompTIA

220-1002 · Question #621

A technician is planning a new desktop rollout project for a company. The company wants to donate systems to the library for reuse. The company does not store sensitive material on the desktops, but…

The correct answer is A. Low-level formatting. Low-level formatting overwrites every sector of the disk with zeros (or a repeating pattern), destroying all existing data and making it extremely difficult to recover with standard tools. This meets the requirement that data be deleted and not easily recoverable before the…

Hardware

Question

A technician is planning a new desktop rollout project for a company. The company wants to donate systems to the library for reuse. The company does not store sensitive material on the desktops, but it does want all the data to be deleted and not easily recoverable. Which of the following methods would be BEST for the technician to perform to prepare the system for donation?

Options

  • ALow-level formatting
  • BDegaussing
  • CEncrypting
  • DDrive wiping

How the community answered

(27 responses)
  • A
    93% (25)
  • C
    4% (1)
  • D
    4% (1)

Explanation

Low-level formatting overwrites every sector of the disk with zeros (or a repeating pattern), destroying all existing data and making it extremely difficult to recover with standard tools. This meets the requirement that data be deleted and not easily recoverable before the systems are donated. Degaussing (B) uses a strong magnetic field to destroy data on magnetic media and is highly effective, but it also permanently disables the drive, making it unusable for donation. Encrypting (C) protects data from being read but does not delete it; if the encryption key were ever recovered, the data could still be exposed. Drive wiping (D) can also securely erase data, but low-level formatting (A) is considered the more thorough, exam-recognized method for full-disk overwrite in this context.

Topics

#data sanitization#low-level format#drive disposal#data destruction

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