When it comes to data security, the need to fully erase sensitive information from storage devices is a critical concern for individuals and organizations alike. The most common non-destructive method for erasing data from traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) is overwriting – replacing existing data with patterns of zeroes, ones or random characters. But how many times must you overwrite a hard drive to ensure its data is truly irretrievable? The Evolution of Overwriting Standards For decades, different organizations and governments have debated the optimal number of overwriting passes required for secure data erasure. 1990s: The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) initially recommended a three-pass overwrite. 1996: Security researcher Peter