I have a Microsoft Surface Pro Computer. THe battery expanded. Technicians advised me not to plug in because battery could explode. How can I scrub the hard drive of personal information if I have no battery power?
If I dispose of the computer, is there any way for someone to get personal information from the hard drive?
Thank you,
A more 'Brute Force' method is available, occurring naturally in the wild.
1. Use an 'industrial cutting disk' to destroy the 'hard drive'.
2. Put the 'hard drive' under a 'road roller'.
3. In both cases finish it off with a 28lb sledge hammer, to your satisfaction.
What specific wipe utility did you use in this circumstance i.e., what wipe utility failed to prevent the Ontrack application from detecting directories/files?
trentboult782:Hi,
Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery, and click Get Started under Reset this PC. You are then asked if you want to keep your files or delete everything. Select Remove Everything, click Next, then click Reset. Your PC goes through the reset process and reinstalls Windows.
Thanks and Best Regards;
I don't see how this would help the OP. If you read the first post it says, "The battery expanded".
Hi,
Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery, and click Get Started under Reset this PC. You are then asked if you want to keep your files or delete everything. Select Remove Everything, click Next, then click Reset. Your PC goes through the reset process and reinstalls Windows.
Thanks and Best Regards;
I second the above!
If you have data that exists nowhere else definitely get an external case, and make sure the drive is connected properly. You do not want to format, etc until you can move you data to another drive.
If you don't need anything of the Surface Pro removing and destroying the drive might be less work.
You can keep the hard drive and re-use it for example, for backups. You can buy a case from a retail store or reputable online store and make it into an external drive that plugs into a USB port.
You need to physically remove the hard drive from the computer and then destroy it. Do not just allow the computer to be recycled without doing that. Someone else could remove the drive and gain confidential info.
If you cannot do it yourself try finding someone else who can. A vocational tech high school might be able to do it for you or Geek Squad at Bestbuy but do not leave it with them unattended. That hard drive contains much personal info that you cannot afford to let out into the wrong hands.