Installing an additional hard drive on your computer offers many benefits; you will have extra storage space or a place to swap out large system files. An extra drive can also be used for backup purposes or be designated as a media drive to store your music and video collection. Opening the case of your computer can feel like a scary process, but with these steps, adding a hard drive can be a painless endeavor.

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So you want to make sure that someone can't get their hands on your private files on a hard drive. Here are ways to render your data completely unreadable.

When files are deleted from a computer by emptying the Recycle Bin or Trash (or by reformatting), the operating system removes them from the list of files on the hard drive. However, the actual contents of the files remain on the drive until it is overwritten, either by use of the same space on the drive or by intentional data destruction. Data that has not been overwritten can easily be recovered with a few tools and a little know-how. This article covers methods of deleting data in such a way to be unrecoverable.

Many people believe that it's not possible to recover deleted text messages from your cell phone, but in reality it's something that can definitely be accomplished.