If you do choose to erase your data with any of these methods, you do so at your own risk—which is why we advise making a backup before you begin. Nevertheless, we have used all of these methods successfully in the past. If you need to delete only specific files and folders rather than entire drives, the open-source Eraser is the tool for you.
From there, a window pops up with the task and time-scheduling options. Click Add Data to select the files to wipe and choose an erasure method. I usually go with the DoD three-pass option. An Eraser option also appears when you right-click on a file in Windows Explorer, allowing you to permanently delete files quickly and easily.
Eraser has a ton of advanced scheduling and file options if you want to securely wipe specific files or sectors of your hard drive on a regular basis. By way of the free disk erasure DiskGenius Free Edition, you can completely wipe hard drives and removable drives via rewriting sectors to 00 or random characters.
Thus, files on the hard drive cannot be recovered by any method, ensuring privacy. Connect the removable device to your computer and make sure it can be recognized by Windows. Install and run DiskGenius from your PC and you can see all local disks and portable devices on the main interface.
Select the external hard drive or SD card you want to erase data, and select " Erase Sectors " option under Tools menu. Select items to fill disk sectors and click Erase button on the popped-up window. There are four options to fill disk sectors in the drop-down list, i. You can either choose one from "00, FF and Random Data", or specify item to fill disk.
DiskGenius asks confirmation for the action, click Erase button to continue. Since the process wipes data permanently, you should make sure you are erasing correcting disk and important files have been backed up.
Step 6. The disk eraser starts wiping data on selected drive and the process may take long time if the disk has very large capacity. In this example, you can learn how to wipe a computer's main hard drive where Windows is installed.
Operating system does not allow to erase system while it is running, and we can only wipe non-system partitions. The following steps show how to reboot computer to WinPE version directly and then erase system disk.
Launch the free disk wipe tool DiskGenius from your Windows computer. It takes about two minutes to create booting information for Windows PE, please wait it to complete with patience. Once the application is ready to reboot, it prompts to restart and backup data. Click " OK " button and computer reboots. Select computer's system hard drive where Windows is installed and click " Erase Sectors " option which can be found under Tools menu.
Click Erase button and the software starts wiping the disk. Note: Once the process finishes, the computer cannot boot to system, as system partition have been erased. You need to make a clean system installation on the hard disk. Case 3: Wipe a single file or folder on hard drive. Erasing an entire hard drive takes too much time, and you don't have to do that if you just want to erase certain existing files on the disk.
On account that deleting files by emptying Recycle Bin does not wipe data complete, we should do extra operation to make files unrecoverable. Files deleted in this way cannot be recovered by any recovery software or professionals.
Let's have a close look at how to wipe files and folders:. Launch DiskGenius again, and locate files you want to permanently delete. Select those files and right-click them to choose " Delete Files Permanently ". Click " Permanently Delete " button on the popped-up window.
In order to completely delete the file, the application will refill hard drive sectors taken by the file during deletion. By default, it overwrites data by filling zeros which can be modified to random data as well. Click " Delete " button to confirm the action to be done. Case 4: Erase deleted files only without affecting existing data. Erasing free space on hard drive overwrites lost files, which does not disturb existing files on the disk.
This solution applies to those who just want to overwrite lost files only in order to make lost data unrecoverable. Select characters to overwrite disk space and click " Erase " button. The total time it takes to finish the HDD wipe depends on the size of the drive and the speed of the computer.
When it's all said and done, you can be confident that whatever information was on the drive is now gone for good. You can now install Windows on the drive, create a new partition , sell or give away the hard drive or computer, recycle or dispose of it, restore your backed up files, or whatever else you need to do.
Beginning in Windows Vista, the format process changed and a single write-zero pass is applied to each standard non-quick format.
In other words, a very basic hard drive wipe is performed during a format. If a single write-zero pass is good enough for you, consider your drive wiped after a regular format in Windows 10, 8, 7, or Vista. If you want something even more secure, follow the hard drive wipe instructions above. This is a wipe of just the partition you're formatting. If you have more than one partition on a physical hard drive, you'll need to format those additional drives as well if you want to consider the entire physical disk as "wiped.
If what you really want to do is just make sure that files you delete on a regular basis are really gone and not retrievable with special tools, a data-wiping program is more than you need. See our list of free file shredder software programs for programs that "destroy" individual files on an as-needed basis.
Many of those shredder programs also do what's called a free space wipe , which is a wipe of all the "empty" space on your hard drive. The purpose of this is to ensure that the files you've already deleted are actually deleted for good. Still confused? While you can't truly wipe the hard drive without deleting the OS, if you reset Windows to its factory default settings , the process will erase personal files and applications on the system.
Right-click and select Format , click a file system, and follow the prompts. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. You can do anything with the disk without the data being uncovered. Want to make doubly sure? Employ some physical destruction to the device, perhaps by drilling through the drive places. Alternatively, open the disk and hammer the platters, the magnetic disks where your data is stored. While other tools including some built-in options can remove the data on your Windows hard drive, the safest option is to wipe with DBAN or a similar tool.
DBAN is simple to use — perhaps too simple. Indeed, without due care and attention, you could accidentally delete the wrong disk drive. Using DBAN successfully requires you to:. Once that's done, the drive can be reused, or safely disposed of.
If the drive is struggling with poor performance before you wipe it, you might prefer to recycle your old hard drive. Wondering what to do with your old hard drives?
Don't throw them out! Turn it into a DIY external hard drive or many other things. You may be concerned about others seeing the data on the drive if you're planning to Sell the hard drive Give it away Donate the PC to charity, church, or a school However, you might not be planning to part with the device. Wiping the disk might be necessary to: Remove a virus or ransomware Overwrite sensitive personal data Start using a second-hand disk drive that the previous owner has not wiped You might have your own reasons for wiping your computer's disk drive.
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