SEATTLE — Our digital devices are doomed to die or become obsolete. As we've reported, electronics contain a terrible mix of toxic chemicals and materials, so you should dispose of them properly. But ...

If you're ready to replace your old PC and hand it down to a friend or family member, you'll need to wipe your data and reset it. Follow these instructions to make sure you do it the right way.

Whenever you sell your electronics to a reseller (or even return an item to the store after having used it), you should always be sure to erase the data from it completely. You can’t count on the ...

You can wipe a hard drive much easier now with the help of your Windows 10 Settings menu and the Disk Utility manager in a Mac's Recovery Mode. It's also possible to wipe a Mac data drive through the ...

When you sell a computer, it is always in your best interest to completely erase all of the data on your hard drive before the computer changes hands. Even small, seemingly inconsequential pieces of ...

Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Got an old laptop laying around? By selling it or donating it to someone, you can clear up space in your home, maybe earn ...

Note: As of September 28, 2011, this software has been discontinued by the vendor. The developer’s fuller-featured Data Destroyer software is still available. Simply formatting a drive has never been ...

If you own a smartphone like an Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone, you already know the PIN you enter whenever you turn it on is designed to prevent data theft if someone gets their hand ...

Toshiba has announced [PDF link] a new hard-drive technology, WIPE, that can automatically delete sensitive data on loss of power or should the HDD be removed. Intended for Toshiba self-encrypting ...

If you’ve the need to wipe lots of drives with the latest algorithms, this utility will do the job, and quickly. MediaTools Wipe 1.1’s interface mimics a server hardware rack—a rather cool, intuitive, ...

The Android operating system partitions the internal storage of your device into different sections, including sections for user data and cached data for frequently-accessed apps. You can clear the ...