What is the recommended method to sanitize a hard drive before disposal?

The recommended method to sanitize a hard drive before disposal is to perform data wiping or physical destruction. Data wiping involves using specialized software that overwrites the existing data on the hard drive multiple times, making it nearly impossible to recover any information. This is an effective way to ensure that sensitive information cannot be accessed by unauthorized parties after the drive is disposed of.

Physical destruction is another effective approach, which involves physically damaging the drive to the point where it cannot be used or its data retrieved. This can include shredding the drive or using a hammer to disable it. Both methods align with best practices for data security, as they provide a comprehensive way to eliminate any possibility of data recovery.

Other methods such as formatting or simply deleting files do not provide adequate protection, as these actions do not fully erase the data. Formatting can leave traces of files that can potentially be recovered, and deleting files generally only removes references to data without actually erasing it from the disk. Using antivirus software is not relevant in this context, as it is primarily designed to protect against malware rather than to ensure data is completely unrecoverable prior to disposal.