Hard disk data security

[nihil]

No,

Most people keep their drive until dead, or physically destroy it in a "secure" environment.

Hey, just how much is a second hand drive worth?

The problem is with a complete system.....you just wipe the drive

[IKnowNot]

Once again, all these problems might not exist in the first place if they use disk encryption software.

Most of these problems would not exist if people just used their heads!

What I am thinking right now, is there a need for home users to encrypt their disk?

The average home user, probably not. If they do work at home and handle “sensitive” information, maybe, but they should already have a routine of properly wiping the data from the computer after each use, and storing any backups securely.
( This should be spelled out by whomever they received the information from in AUPs, etc. )

I just get the feeling that:

1) the average home user would eventually set the system up so that every time they turned on the computer the disk would be decrypted automatically, defeating the purpose of encryption in the first place ( people are generally lazy, and want to make things as simple as possible. )

2) the average home user would never properly wipe a drive because they would rely on the encryption, which they effectively defeated ( see #1 )

IMHO.