Mary is responsible for getting rid of old hard drives that are no longer used. It is important that all data be removed from the drive and none recoverable, but that the drive still be useable. Which of the following steps should she take before disposing of the drives?

A.
Degauss the drive

B.
Delete all data and defragment the drive.

C.
Delete all data and do a high-level format of the drive.

D.
Use a utility like Linux DD to overwrite all drive bits with zero’s

Explanation:
The Linux DD command is even recommended for use in forensically wiping a drive. It will erase all data. It works at the bit level of the drive itself, changing all bits to zeros.

Answer option B is incorrect. Even with defragmenting, common undelete programs will be able to retrieve large amounts of data.

Answer option C is incorrect. Even with a high-level format, common undelete programs will be able to retrieve large amounts of data.

Answer option A is incorrect. Degaussing can damage the drive (it won’t always, but it can) and render it unusable.