On their web site product area for Drive Scrubber, iolo technologies ask, "Are you giving away sensitive data when you sell or discard your PC?" In addition, iolo states: "74% of discarded PC hard drives contain private data that can be easily read and recovered." There is a misunderstanding in the computer end user thinking that once PC or Laptop drives are deleted and reformatted then all data on the hard drive can never ever be recovered. Thus, it is safe to sell or give your old PC to family or friends or to charity after your entire PC does not hold anything of value. I used to recommend to clients that they remove and destroy their old hard drives, before donating or giving their PC/laptops to charity-minus the hard drive.

Thinking that no data can be recovered is the wrong answer even with deletions and a quick format your data can be recovered. Some people simply give or sell the old PC without a second thought to what information is on their PC. Many users think they really have nothing of interest to others, nor do they have any financial data, so no sense to wipe the drive. Personal information should remain private. To quote Shakespeare: "Who steals my purse, steals trash, but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed." - William Shakespeare.

Today's Internet world has given rise to the problem of identity theft, and the statistics are getting worse. It has been estimated that $221 billion a year is lost by businesses worldwide due to identity theft. iolo Technologies Drive Scrubber is an easy to use drive data cleaning utility that will allow you to donate that older PC or Laptop with confidence knowing all data has been erased forever. Drive Scrubber is very easy to install and presents the user with three main choices: 1. Wipe all Contents of a Drive. 2. Wipe Free Space of a Drive. 3. Create a DriverScrubber Boot disk. Moreover, just for fun you can add the Desktop "Incinerator" to permanently erase deleted files.

Choosing the number one will wipe all contents from a drive, and it must be used with the greatest caution as you could delete your main boot drive. However, iolo technologies have built in several stop points to make the end user very sure he or she wants to wipe the drive. In addition, in order for the program to continue and wipe the drive the end user has to enter the word PROCEED in to a text box, before Drive Scrubber will continue.

Once the process has started, it will take some time to complete the drive scrubbing process, so be prepared to let the program run. Ideally, you could use a spare computer for this as when I wiped a 160GB SATA drive it took nearly five hours. Wiping and 80GB IDE drive for a customer took just over two hours-the customer wanted to give the old PC to a friend and wanted the drive cleaned of all information.

Why would anyone with today's lower computer and hard drive prices want to buy the Drive Scrubber program? Many of the older, PC's can still be used for students and adults who cannot afford the newest technology and many organizations are looking for donations for third world countries. In addition, the BIOS of some older PC's cannot accept a larger hard drive, and usually there is no BIOS upgrade for older PC's available. Using iolo' s Drive Scrubber helps keep the earth a bit more green by allowing a user to completely wipe the hard drive of all information, allowing the PC/Laptop be recycled and out of the scrap heap or landfill.

Technicians or consultants using Drive Scrubber can completely clean a hard drive after a virus attack and reuse the hard drive. Using Drive Scrubber second feature to Wipe Free Space of a drive cleans out deleted file remnants, providing a refreshed and clean file storage area- it does not delete any working files or operating system-spring cleaning for your hard drive.

Not often for under $30.00, you can buy a utility to completely erase a hard drive, before you pass the system to relatives/friends/sell on eBay or donate to a charity. Another advantage is you will be doing your part to keep the PC/Laptop out of a landfill. In spite of iolo Technologies Drive Scrubber being slow when running a complete hard drive deletion/wipe, it is a good handy utility for the price to have in the PC utility toolbox.