Connect the bootable USB or CD/DVD and set boot priority for it in the BIOS. Restart your computer and go to main page of AOMEI Backupper Standard, click Tools Disk Wipe to open the bootable hard drive eraser freeware. In the wiping type window, choose Wipe selected partitions & unallocated space on the disk, or Wipe disk. Remove all additional drives from the computer excluding the drive you are booting from and the drive you want to Erase/Clean. Items to note: This article will walk through the steps of using the Microsoft Diskpart Erase utility to Clean the disk of a previous partition and format, including any data on the drive. Wipe Your Drive in Windows 8.1. In Windows 8.1, go to Settings Change PC Settings Update and recovery Recovery. Click the Get Started button under the section heading Remove everything.
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Click Start, then choose 'Control Panel.' Click 'System and Security,' then choose 'Restore Your Computer to an Earlier Time' in the Action Center section. Click 'Advanced Recovery Methods,' then choose 'Return Your Computer to Factory Condition.' This thread is locked. How To Repair Mac Internal Hard Drive; Erase Mac Internal Hard Drive “So about a week ago Windows warned me about some kind of hard drive issue where they asked me to backup the hard drive itself with steps, stupid enough i miss judged not seeing this as an actual warning. Now these last days the hard drive has been disappearing from my computer.
July 13, 2020
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You want to donate or recycle your old computer gear, but there’s something you have to do first — wipe your hard drive. That means clearing out all your personal information.
You may think that’s not a lot of stuff, but your old devices probably hold a ton of information. Your medical records, browser history, login info for your bank account, past emails — all that information about you that accumulates on a device.
It’s not enough to simply delete old files. Why? The delete button doesn’t actually delete.
Your personal information will be retrievable on a computer’s hard drive unless you take steps to wipe the hard drive clean. If you don’t, the files are there for the taking. Anyone with recovery software and bad intentions could access them and put your privacy and the security of your personal information at risk.
How to completely wipe a hard drive
Follow these steps to ensure you’re truly wiping your hard drive clean. They’ll help keep you from passing on or losing your documents, photos, passwords, financial information, and personal data when you say goodbye to your old device.
Step 1: Back up your hard-drive data
Internal Hard Drive Erase
Before you wipe your computer’s hard drive or do a factory reset, make sure to back up all of your information to your new computer, an external hard drive, or a web service.
Backing up your data regularly is a smart way to keep your data safe. Hard drives can crash, get lost, stolen, or encrypted by ransomware software. The best defense is to make sure all the data is backed up safely and frequently.
You can back up your data on thumb drives or USB flash drives. But keep in mind these are small storage devices and may not accommodate all the data from your PC. External hard drives can offer more storage. You can also transfer your data to another laptop or PC.
“Cloud backs” are another option. They’re safe and one of the most convenient ways to store data. Here’s how it works.
First, you create an account and complete the initial setup. Next, you enable the storage of your data to the cloud — a network of remote servers. There’s no physical location for the backed-up data. So the risk of it getting stolen or destroyed by things like floods or fires is mitigated. Plus, the files are encrypted. That makes it difficult for cybercriminals to access or steal your information.
The importance of data backup
It’s a good idea to make backing up data a part of your cyber hygiene. If you happen to lose your data due to a hardware defect or ransomware attack, having a backup could be the respite you’re looking for.
Step 2: Don’t just delete files from your computer
You might think moving your documents to the trash or recycle bin and emptying it will do the trick. Maybe not. This action appears to delete the files, but often leaves them where they were, hidden from view. Most data recovery programs can actually recover these hidden files.
Here’s why. When you empty files from the trash or recycle bin, the file name or the reference to the deleted file is erased. The computer can no longer see the file.
This means the space the file took up on the laptop or PC is no longer reserved for that file. But the file is still in the hard drive. It will stay in the hard drive until its location is given up for a new file to be stored in that exact location.
Data recovery software is capable of rebuilding the file header. This makes it possible for the computer to see the file again.
Here’s the risk. When your files are not deleted completely from the hard drive, cybercriminals can run data recovery software to access your deleted files.
Law enforcement agencies use data recovery software to access deleted files from confiscated computers. Cybercriminals can use the same tools and techniques to commit identity theft.
Step 3: Use a program to wipe your drive
Special software programs can permanently erase your hard drive. There’s little chance you can get any data back. Similarly, no one else will be able to use data recovery software to recover your files.
Most programs run a low-level format that overwrites all the deleted files with zeros and other incomprehensible data. This makes it impossible for data recovery software to recover the files.
DBAN is a free data destruction program* that completely erases files on a hard drive. This includes all personal files, operating systems, and installed programs.
It’s smart to use a program to wipe your device. Most products offer proof of erasure. Some even provide information about what was done to the drive and its data. This helps when wiping a company laptop or PC.
Step 4: Physically wipe your hard drive
If you want to double-ensure your hard drive is wiped, you can take additional measures. For instance, you can physically wipe the drive. Just remove your hard drive and take a rare earth magnet to it. Another option? Physically dismantle it with a screwdriver.
A rare earth magnet, like the neodymium magnet, can be used to deform the metal plates in the hard disk. This makes it unusable. One warning: The magnets are powerful and can cause physical harm if used incorrectly.
A safer method might be using a screwdriver to dismantle the pieces of the hard drive to make it useless.
Step 5: Do a fresh installation of the operating system
There’s another way to completely rewrite over the whole hard drive. That’s by completing a clean installation of the original operating system that came with the computer. This can be especially important if you’re giving the device to someone like a friend or family member.
What are the risks of not wiping my hard drive?
As the line between the real world and digital world blurs, it’s smart to understand how cybercriminals work. A security product like Norton Security Premium helps protect your personal PC files, financial information and your family’s devices. But when you discard your device without properly wiping the hard drive, you run the risk of losing your data.
Cybercriminals value your personal data — such as your email address, passwords, Social Security number, driver’s license details, and credit card information. They could sell the information on the dark web.
Cybercriminals can buy the information and launch cyberattacks to commit other kinds of crimes like identity theft and extortion. They could open bank accounts in your name, purchase items with your credit card information, or take out loans and default on them, leaving you with the consequences.
Thieves also look for private and confidential information. This may include non-disclosure agreements, personal photographs, private chat conversations, and other details you may not want to expose. If a hard drive wasn’t wiped clean, cybercriminals could retrieve this information to blackmail the owner of the content.
Types of data deletion
No matter what kind of data you had on your computer before you decided to donate or recycle it, it pays to play it safe.
Remember, deleting your files from the recycle bin or trash doesn’t mean the file is gone from your device. It only means its location is available. Data recovery software can easily find those files in your hard drive.
Here are a few ways to wipe your hard drive like the pros and avoid the risk of someone accessing your old data.
1. DBAN
Short for Darik’s Boot and Nuke, DBAN* uses a random number generator that wipes and overwrites everything on the drive several times. Every file that has been deleted now has the new number assigned to it. This makes it impossible for data recovery tools to access it. This tool is useful if you plan to sell, donate, or recycle your computer or laptop.
2. Destroy the hard drive
A sure way to completely destroy the hard drive is to make it physically impossible to access the disks. This can be done by dismantling the pieces of the hard disk with a screwdriver and using a hammer to scratch and mangle the disk. The goal is to make sure the disk will not work when it is loaded into another hard drive. A powerful rare earth magnet can also be used to destroy the platter in the hard drive.
How Norton Utilities can help wipe your hard drive
Your PC is likely packed with personal files. It’s wise to keep all that information secure and private. Norton Utilities is a handy tool that keeps your PC running like new. It fixes common issues that slow down or crash your PC. It also frees up space by finding duplicate files and unused applications.
It’s commonplace to store personal files on your PC. Now it’s easy to keep your digital life private. Safely dispose of personal documents, so no one can access them. Think of it as a digital shredder. Norton Utilities helps keep what you do on your computer private. It can permanently erase all record of your computer and web-based activities to help protect your privacy.
It also safely disposes of personal documents permanently and renders them inaccessible. Most of all, it maintains your digital privacy by erasing your recently opened files and website browsing history.
There’s a lot you can do to help protect your personal information if you take the right steps before disposing of your old computer.
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How To Use Hard Drive
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Most hard drives come “preformatted” and ready to use these days. But you occasionally might need to format one yourself.
For example, formatting typically removes most of the data on a drive, making it a quicker way to erase a large drive than simply deleting everything on it. The biggest reason for reformatting, though, is if you want to change the file system used on the drive to something else. Windows makes several file systems available to you—including FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS—and they all have their advantages and disadvantages. While you’ll typically use NTFS for internal drives on a Windows PC (and, in fact, you’re forced to for your system drive), choosing a file system matters more when you’re formatting an external USB drive.
RELATED:What's the Difference Between FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS?
RELATED:How to Wipe (Securely Erase) Your Devices Before Disposing of or Selling Them
Note: Formatting using most format utilities does not technically erase your drive. Instead, it marks the space your data used as available for writing to. So while you could still recover data from drives that have been formatted using the technique we’re discussing here, it requires a special utility and some time. For practical purposes, you can consider the data gone when you format a drive. If, however, you need to securely erase the data from a drive—say you’re tossing the drive or giving it away—consider a third-party tool like Eraser or DBan.
Fortunately, Windows makes formatting drives pretty easy. You can format a drive—and perform other functions like creating and deleting partitions—using Windows’ Disk Management tool. But if formatting is all you want to do, there’s an easier way.
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Open File Explorer to the “This PC” view so that you can see all your drives easily.
Right-click any drive in File Explorer, and then click the “Format” option.
The “Format” window offers a number of options:
- Capacity: This box shows the capacity of the drive. The dropdown shows only the drive you selected, so there’s not much to do with this option other than make sure you’ve got the right drive selected. RELATED:How to Format USB Drives Larger Than 32GB With FAT32 on Windows
- File system: Depending on the size of the drive you’re formatting, you’ll see a few options here, including FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS. If you’re formatting a drive over 32 GB, you won’t see the FAT32 option here, but we’ve got a guide to help you work around that if you need to.
- Allocation unit size: The allocation unit size represents the maximum cluster size on a drive—the smallest units into which data are broken. We recommend leaving this value at its default of 4096 unless you have good reason to change it.
- Restore device defaults: Use this button to change all the options in the “Format” window back to the default for whatever drive is selected.
- Volume label: Type a name for the drive as it will appear in File Explorer. RELATED:What is the Difference Between a Quick and Full Format?
- Quick format: Select this option to perform a high-level format, which works quickly and just readies the drive with a new file system. Clear this option to perform a low-level format that takes longer, but checks out every sector of the drive. A low-level format is a good option if you’re concerned about the reliability of the drive.
When you’ve got all your options set the way you want them, click “Start” to continue. Remember, this will erase the entire drive, so make sure you have anything you need backed up!
Windows warns you’ll lose any data on the drive you’re about to format. Click “OK” to start the format.
Erase Hard Drive Windows 10
When it’s done, you’ll be able to access your newly formatted drive in Windows.
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