How to Block Government Snooping in a Computer Hard Drive
Computer users in the United States and many other jurisdictions have a reasonable expectation of privacy when it comes to storing information on a personal computer. In order to keep anyone from viewing files on your computer's hard drive, you must encrypt the data. BitLocker is a tool made by Microsoft and included with some versions of Windows that is designed to encrypt data. The key to protecting personal financial information, photos, videos and other types of files is encryption.
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Instructions
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Nondestructive Method: BitLocker Encryption
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Open BitLocker Drive Encryption by clicking "Start," "Control Panel," "Security" and "BitLocker Drive Encryption." If you are using the icon view, BitLocker Drive Encryption will be located in the main "Control Panel" area.
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Create a new encrypted partition for private files by following the BitLocker wizard step by step. BitLocker shrinks your existing partition and creates a new encrypted partition.
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Reboot the computer when prompted. After the restart a new partition will be available. Files and folders on the partition will only be available to a user with the USB key. Computers that have a Trusted Platform Module available can use biometric identifiers such as a fingerprint instead of the USB flash drive to lock and unlock encrypted files.
Destructive Method: Destroy Files on a Hard Drive With Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN)
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To completely wipe all data from a hard drive, use Darik's Boot and Nuke. Download DBAN (see Resources). Burn a CD or DVD using the image file or load the image to a USB flash drive. Boot the computer using the newly created DBAN bootable media.
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Specify a wipe method that DBAN should use to destroy all information on the hard drive. The "DoD Short" method meets U.S. Department of Defense standards for wiping a hard drive. This method takes some time -- up to several hours for a large drive.
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Reboot the computer once DBAN informs you that it is finished. The hard drive's data is permanently unrecoverable to anyone.
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Tips & Warnings
Google also offers free encryption tools.
If you lose an encryption key or passphrase, you will usually lose the encrypted data forever.
Encryption is a good way to ensure privacy of files and folders. Encryption does not protect anyone from legal liability when engaging in criminal activity. Government agencies have many resources and tools available to them that may be able to defeat or otherwise compromise attempts to hide illegal activity. Use encryption tools for lawful purposes.
Using DBAN is a permanent choice. Once you have "nuked" a hard drive the data can never be recovered. Use this option very carefully.
References
Resources
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