Even if you’ve taken steps to archive content, it may not be completely safe. If you’ve downloaded it, your hard disk could crash, and you’d lose anything on the machine. Data could also be lost on your cell phone or tablet, losing any pictures
or information on those devices. If you think it’s rare, think again. According to a 2012 survey commissioned by Seagate Technology, 54% of American adults have and/or know someone who has lost data. On the other side of the coin, there are times you won’t want the data to be available. You may be selling or trading in your device, or it could be lost or stolen.
In such cases, you’d want to find it, lock it so it can’t be used, or wipe it to remove any personal information. There have been many situations where people and companies have sold such equipment, not realizing there are photos, documents, and other fies that can be accessed on the machine. To protect yourself, you’ll want to install the proper software, so that the data is still accessible to you and not others.