When you send a task to your Xerox multifunction printer, it needs to store that data somewhere so that it can do its thing—makes sense, right?
However, for businesses and organizations that need to handle sensitive data very carefully, it’s worth knowing that the print jobs assigned to your unit will exist in the memory of the printer during and, for a while at least, after the print job is completed.
This can often be desirable, for example, in the event that you want to immediately or later re-print the same documents again. But sometimes, for security purposes or just the peace of mind that comes with knowing your private documents are gone for good from the printer memory after you’re done, it can be necessary to completely remove that data from the printer.
Fortunately, Xerox makes this process very easy, thanks to the Image Overwrite feature available in many modern printers. We’ll discuss that in a moment, but first, let’s look at how file deletion actually works.
How Printer File Deletion & Recovery Works
Unless you’ve taken some very specific steps, anytime you delete a file on your desktop computer—or your laptop, mobile device, or multifunction printer, for that matter—the files aren’t actually “gone.”
Here’s how it works: when you tell your device to delete a file, what it actually does is frees up that space in the storage of the device. It says, “Hey, we don’t need this file anymore, so let’s go ahead and overwrite it with something else later.”
This is how file recovery software works. If the file that was deleted hadn’t yet been overwritten, it can often be retrieved. This is great if you accidentally deleted an irreplaceable document, but in some scenarios it can be a security risk. Here’s how to mitigate it:
Security Solution: Xerox Printer Image Overwrite
Modern Xerox machines have a featured called “Image Overwrite.” When enabled, it will immediately overwrite a deleted file with junk data—meaning that it can never be retrieved. For security purposes, this is a good thing, but you do have to make sure that it’s a setting you really want to use, because you won’t be able to get those files back either.
The process to enable this feature varies from one unit to another, but it can typically be found under the security settings for the machine. In some cases, you’ll have the choice between immediate image overwrite, which will overwrite data by default, or manual overwrite, sometimes called on demand, which will allow you to choose when the feature is used.
Smart Document Solutions Has the Answers to Your Document Processing Questions – Let’s Talk!
We hope that this post has given you some important insight into secure deletion and how Xerox technology can help keep your data safe. For more information about Xerox’s industry-leading information security features, make sure to read our post How Xerox Protects Your Data With Security Updates & Patches.
If you have any questions or you’d like to learn more, please feel warmly welcomed to get in touch with our team here at Smart Document Solutions. Whether you’re looking for an office upgrade or just need advice, we’re standing by. You can also contact us online or, if you are in the market for an upgrade, we even offer free online quotes.
