Windows 10: Formatting then Resetting a Disk after Encryption - is it secure?

Hi everyone,


First of all I don't know anything about computers so this is probably a stupid question. So, sorry about that in advance.

I am preparing my windows 10 laptop to be sold. I read online that a good way to prevent recovery of your sensitive data, including things you've deleted (which I now know doesn't permanently delete them) is to encrypt the drive (mine is SSD) then format it. I did so, but then, deciding to be on the safe side, also reset my SSD from the HP BIOS using their Secure Erase option.

So then my friend heard of this and told me that the Secure Erase after formatting will actually make the deletion less secure? He said something about how the electric signal it sends to reset all the nodes can undo the effects of the format.


I'm pretty sure she's just messing with me (she sometimes makes fun of me for my technological ignorance) but I wanted to be on the safe side.


Thanks for any responses and sorry again if it's a stupid question!


Edit: Moreover, how secure is the process I just described? Enough so that nobody could possibly recover the data?

:)

 

How To Format A Write Protected Flash Memory ?

¿You already tried this one?...

Run CMD


1. diskpart
2. list disk

Then in the 3º step, put the correct number of disk in the list for the usb flash (if it's listed in disk 3, then you'll have to write select disk 3).

2. select disk #
3. clean
4. create partition primary
5. select partition 1
6. active
7. format fs=fat32
8. assign
9. exit

with that commands you will format the flash drive in fat32, if you have a large drive you can select also "format fs=ntfs" in step 7.

good luck!

 

Can't encrypt or password protect folders?

Hi,

Thank you for posting on Microsoft Community. I understand the inconvenience you faced.
I will certainly help you with this.

The information which you have provided is not enough for us to determine the issue. Please provide us more information.

• Are you logging-in using Administrator User account?
• Is this issue specific to any particular folder or persist in all the folders?

Encrypting File System (EFS) is a feature of Windows that you can use to store information on your hard disk in an encrypted format. Encryption is the strongest protection that Windows provides to help you keep your information secure. I suggest you to try
log-in through other Administrator account and perform the below given steps to encrypt the folder and check if it works:

How to encrypt a file

• Right-click (or tap and hold) a file or folder and select Properties.
• Select the Advanced... button and select the Encrypt contents to secure data check box.
• Select OK to close the Advanced Attributes window, select
  Apply, and then select OK.

Please post back with the results and the information asked, we will be glad to assist you further.

Thank you.

 

Cannot Format HD


Need to initialize it as GPT disk type with HD > 2TB:
From Admin command prompt:

1. diskpart
2. list disk =====> Take a note of disk # for the 4TB HD
3. select disk # ====> From step 2
4. clean
5. exit

Open Disk Management and initialize the disk as GPT, create simple then format.