QuestionsAre

And the definite last question: How much does secure deletion wear out the hard drive, making it fail earlier... Do you recommend overwriting once or twice (Probably not more?) Does e.g. securely overwriting a whole hard drive wear it out the same as filling it up with files (or does overwriting it securely once put MORE stress on it?)

(Also before running the secure deletion program he sometimes changes the .jpg to an .txt or some other extension. I guess this very action doesn't actually make the whole process any more secure or less secure, since you are not actually changing the file, just the extension/association?)

P.S.: What are the most trustworthy secure deletion programs recommended by experts (Sorted by trustworthiness, no backdoors etc... e.g. sending every to be deleted file to the NSA or some sketchy developer first.) Probably most American secure deletion software have some required backdoor by the NSA?! Probably the same for Britain, Australia, Russia, China and of course N-Korea?! Thank you very much for this AmA!!

What advice do you have for future generations? What message is important to not forget that your generation had to go through?

Say someone took a screenshot of an important password. Then he securely wants to delete that screenshot (for example an .jpg or .PNG file). That person thinks he is extra clever and careful and before running a "secure deletion" program (overwriting the file multiple times with random data) he does the following: Open the .jpg with a text editor (then you see all the seemingly random letters, numbers and symbols that "make the jpg") He deletes all that (or part of it) and writes in some random letters and saves the file. Afterwards the .jpg can't be read any more by an image viewer. Only THEN does he run the secure deletion program. Is that more secure or less secure? Does the Computer write the changed .jpg file on a completely different position on the hard drive or on the same? Hope you know what I mean?