How To Wipe A Hard Drive Windows 10

[Granville Turley]

Doingmultiple passes is excessive and mostly useless, let alone filling the drive with random data. The only way you can try to restore anything, after such an operation took place, is with an atomic-force microscope - this is, obviously, an extreme procedure, that will take months for even the smallest JPG file and the error rate (false-positives) is going to be immense (in other words - you won't get anything meaningful out of it). This is even more true for higher capacity models (higher density platters).

However, there is something called secure erase. This is an established ATA standard. This functionality is integrated into the drive itself. Not only is it even faster than a run of dd (as it's already hardware based and hardware > software, speed wise), it is also more secure, due to the ability of purging original bad sectors that have been reallocated! There are 2 versions: the vanilla (2001 and onwards) and the enhanced one (post 2004). So, if your drive was manufactured roughly 10 years ago - it is already very likely to support this feature.

As a side note on scenarios when you cannot always format and wipe the disk and have to relinquish ownership of a computer with OS intact (like resigning a job and returning the laptop), Scott Hanselman has noted down a checklist on activities to carry out before giving it up forever.

format can also be used to wipe individual drives with the /P option. For example to format the D: drive as NTFS and wipe the drive with zero then overwrite it again twice with random values you can use format D: /fs:ntfs /P:2

Another suggestion, for Macs, is to use Apple's Disk Utility program. It's included on the OS X install disc, so if you boot from that, you can open Disk Utility, select your drive, and erase it (there are some options for how many times to write over data and such).

Also, if you happen to have lots of important data, the easiest and fastest way can be to physically destroy the medium. A sledgehammer blow is much simpler than overwriting 1TB disk 15 times with random binary patterns.

At the end, there is probably less than 1 Go free on the disk, and you can fill it by copy/pasting various files (smaller and smaller), and at a certain point you will see something like "0 bytes remaining on the disk / disk full".

If you are using Windows 8 or earlier, you will need to download third-party software to wipe your hard drive. Be sure to get software that meets the US DoD 5220.22-M requirements for sanitizing a drive. Using this kind of software will take several hours or more, depending on how much data you have on your drive.

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I'm getting ready to either donate or throw out my old Dell desktop which runs WinXP, sp3 (whichever opportunity presents itself first :emotion-7:). I'm sorry I can't remember the model name (at the moment). But anyway, from what I understand, I need to remove all the data from it, to protect my privacy from whomever might want to use it after I'm finished with it.

From the research I've done, it sounds like I need to uninstall and delete programs, docs, images, music, etc.,, as much as possible, and save anything I want to keep, to a cd or usb drive. Then to start the wiping process, first I should reformat the hard drive. After that, I need to "wipe" it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised about this paradoxical terminology, but it IS annoying. I'm talking about this wiping process which does not remove anything, but rather overwrites the disc, at least a few times, to make my data harder to recover :emotion-7:.

Could someone please direct me to the proper instructions for reformatting the hard drive? Or if there's an article or something about this whole process, that you could link me to, that would be great.

Also, I've looked for a program to do the wiping. There are free ones, and expensive ones. I prefer free, unless they are just not worthwhile. Do you all have any recommendations for the wiping program?

Actually, now that I think about it, I might still be able to use the computer. Once I refortmat the hard drive, isn't that kind of like starting over with a blank slate? Couldn't I reinstall WinXP right back on it? Or I wonder if I could install Win7? My newer computer runs Win7, so I should have the installation cd somewhere. Although this old computer only has 1.24 gb ram. So maybe not Win7, but even with XP, I could at least still use the printer that's connected to it. (The printer and its software are probably too old to run on my newer computer.) As long as I don't plan to use the internet, there won't be any security issues with using such an old/outdated os.....right?

Just to add to rdunnill's comments, I'm guessing you might not want to pay for a new operating system for a computer that's worth less than the license will cost you. My suggestion would to wipe the drive and perform a clean installation of XP if you have the Dell XP installation disc. There are plenty of free utilities that can wipe the hard drive securely. You DO NOT need to uninstall anything before you format the drive.

I used Acronis TrueImage to wipe a hard drive on a laptop being sent back after a contract assignment. I paid $20 for it and it other useful things besides wiping, including image disks. If you have valuable data on the old hard drive, Acronis TrueImage would be of help in getting it over to your new PC.

I use Acronis True Image for regular backups, so I looked at their products for this issue. Their current disc wipe is $60 US. Whatever info I needed to transfer, was done a few years ago, so that's not an issue at the moment.

I still would like a guide for reformatting the hard drive, and also for reinstalling XP, if anyone can refer me to it. Or could I just call tech support? I guess it's too long of a process for a wizard....but I do love the wizards!

Actually, you know, in the very early days of this computer, it was right when malware was going crazy, and I seem to recall being walked through a reinstall (via phone from tech support). Or maybe it was the computer before that?? Is there a limit how many reformats and reinstalls you can do to a hard drive?

I didn't realize I would have to pay for another license. But I'm sure XP can continue to run my printer and fax for me. I probably do still have the installation CD. It's good to know that I don't have to uninstall everything!

Oh sorry Osprey4. While I've gained a lot of knowledge and experience with my home computers, over the last several years, it didn't occur to me that reformatting the hard drive would come under the heading of "installation". I guess it depends on your perspective. In some ways it seems like uninstalling, which is how I was thinking. But in other ways, it's like reinstalling, which I only realized while I was posting the op.

ps - It's been years since I've looked at any Dell online communities. They used to be very newbie UNfriendly, and I avoided them. So I'm glad to see this much improvement! Ok, cross fingers, and I'll try posting again :emotion-11:

I haven't actually found my cd yet, so I'm not sure if it is a XP Media Edition. But if it's not, how do I update the cd with SATA drivers and sp3? Does that mean to actually edit the cd? I would assume that the reinstallation cd would not be writable?

Ok, I looked up slipstream and in a quick search found nLite. Is that an acceptable way to add both the service pack and new drivers? Or if not, can you recommend a better solution? (I have found my reinstall cd, btw.) I guess I'd have to have nLite on a cd or flash drive.

Hhmm....I'm looking at the manual, but I'm not clear whether this slipstreaming process involves going online to dl the drivers and sp, or exactly how that part works. First it says to install .NET Framework. Hhmmm....

And I realize you can't provide support for a non-Dell product. I just need to understand the general steps -- I just don't want to have to go online with the newly reinstalled XP, if I can avoid it. Because if I have to still be concerned with all that security stuff and updates and upgrades (which isn't necessarily free, esp av), just to keep the fax software and some extra storage space, I may as well just buy a fax machine, (and new usb drive for storage) and go ahead with the wiping process. Do you understand what I mean?

Note newer guides I am working on mention how to virtualise Windows XP and use Windows XP in a virtual environment to connect to legacy hardware. Virtualisation of an obsolete OS would be preferred method to running a legacy rig just to connect to a fax machine. This can be done with utilities like VMWare player.

In fact I tested VMWare player with a scientific instrument and the host computers serial port using Windows 98! the other day. I could successfully control the instrument within the virtual machine allowing full compatibility of legacy software moreover the virtual machine had the outside protection of a modern OS - Windows 8.1 32 Bit.

WMWare Player is free for home use but you need a full Windows XP license to use with it; these are pretty cheap to get a hold of these days. I am still working on the guide but you can see here for more of an idea:

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