Erasing data securely

Hello!

I have downloaded some .avi shows from Megaupload, which is like Rapidshare. I will be going to the USA soon, and i've heard that they check your laptops. Now, i want to remove everything related to these downloads so that they can't see them. What should i do?

Also, i may move them to an external hard disk that i won't be taking with me. Will they know that i've transferred these files to an external hard disk?

Thanks!

Actually, when you enter the US with a notebook computer, the customs folks will generally just ask you to boot the machine to make sure it's a computer and not something else more ominous.

To answer your question, you can secure erase the entire hard drive if you wish - using Disk Utility. You can also wipe free space on your drive using Disk Utility, however, Disk Utility does not wipe "file slack". In order to completely secure wipe free space including "file slack" you need a third party utility = "BC Wipe".

See the following link for additional info.

Regards.

ar53nal14 said:

I have downloaded some .avi shows from Megaupload, which is like Rapidshare. I will be going to the USA soon, and i've heard that they check your laptops. Now, i want to remove everything related to these downloads so that they can't see them. What should i do?

Click to expand...

Well, not downloading illegal content would be a good start.

So, you're asking us to help you hide your illegal activities? Does this not seem wrong in any way?

Discussion of illegal activity is prohibited on these forums. We're done here.