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If you do choose to erase your data with any of these methods, you do so at your own risk-which is why we advise making a backup before you begin. Department of Defense’s “Short” specification and for numerous militaries around the globe.
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Some utilities support “Gutmann”-level protection with 35 passes, but three passes is enough for the U.S. The more times you overwrite your data, the less likely it is to be recovered. A utility that makes three passes overwrites your drive with ones and zeroes three separate times.
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Each pass signifies a complete overwrite of the data.
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Drive-wipe utilities let you specify how many “passes” the software makes. With that out of the way let’s talk terminology.
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