Wipe Your Disk
Completely Erase your Hard Drive
- Wipe your disk clean
- What to do to sanitize a drive:
- Delete data = data wipe
- Encrypt the drive (Microsoft BitLocker, etc.)
- Encrypt, Format, Encrypt again - The second encryption ensures your first encryption key - which is usually kept on the drive - is overwritten. Zealous decrypters could recover the key and decrypt your data. But with the second encryption they can only recover the second key, and since the older data are also encrypted, they still can't read it.
- Wipe Entire Disk Drive = Shred the Whole Volume = not just files and folders and free space.
- See DBAN for detailed step-by-step instructions.
- Format - After erasing all data, you will probably need to FDISK and then FORMAT if you want to leave your disk bootable.
- Fdisk = a command-line program used to create and delete partitions on the hard drive in earlier versions of MS-DOS and Windows.
- DiskPart, replacing its predecessor - fdisk, is a command-line utility that provides the ability to manage disks, partitions or volumes in your computer running all versions of the operating system since Windows 2000.
- Format
- Partition
- Install and Set up Windows (if necessary)
- Mechanical destruction
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- BestVPN.com
- HowStuffWorks
- InfoWorld
- MakeUseOf
- NYTimes - $$
- PCMag
- PCWorld
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- Disk Wipe = Permanent Data Sanitization = remove everything from the drive - Wipe Entire Disk Drive = Shred the Whole Volume = not just files and folders and free space.
- Warning! - If you are using a laptop, make sure it is plugged in. The wiping process could take a long time.
- How to Completely Wipe All Data From Your Computer
- Active@KillDisk
- Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod)
- Blancco | Hard Drive & Disk Eraser Software - $$ only for business
- CMRR - Secure Erase
- DBAN
- DataEraser by OnTrack - $586/50 erasures
- Degaussing (using a magnet, like a bulk VHS tape eraser) will invalidate the warranty because it removes more than just your data from the disk.
- Degaussing - Wikipedia - demagnetizing - It would require a really, really strong magnet.
- It's an old myth that magnets will ruin the data stored on a hard disc, because floppy discs were prone to getting scrambled this way. But most modern hard drives are safe unless exposed to laboratory-grade degaussers. Flash storage like SD and CampactFlash memory cards are also not magnetic, so are safe from data loss caused by magnets.
- Disk Wipe - using USB flash drive - $0
- HDD Erase (= Secure Erase)
- KillDisk -
Free download. - $0 or $60 (Pro version)
- OnTrack DataEraser - 50 erases for CDN$586 or $20/month
- PartedMagic - Partitioning, Cloning, Rescue, and Erasing. - $11
- Remo Drive Wipe | Wipe / Erase Hard Disk Drive Data Permanently - $0
- Remo also has many other utilities.
- Secure Erase = HDD Erase = CMRR
- ShredIt - File Shredder | Hard Drive Eraser | Mireth Technology
- Tolvanen/Heidi Computers Eraser
- Windows - Format & Cipher
- WipeDrive Home - WhiteCanyon Software - $0
- Clean / Scrub /Shred files and folders that have been deleted
- Data remanence - Wikipedia
- Apple
- Three methods for erasing data securely from an iOS device | TechRepublic - (iPhone, iPad, iPod)
- Restore (in iTunes)
- To remotely wipe your device, you must first have iCloud configured and have Find my iPhone enabled; then, log into your iCloud account and select Find my iPhone from the list of web apps. Once you’ve opened the app, you’ll see a list of devices that have Find my iPhone enabled from which you can select the device that you would like to erase. Once selected, your device will be first located, then you’ll have the option to view more details about the device. Click the i to view more information, and from this window you can remotely wipe the device.
- App Store - ProtectStar iShredder Pro
- DBAN = Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe - an open-source external block overwrite utility - $0
- Hardware solutions
- Encryption ... (BitLocker etc.)
- Secure Erase - $0
- KillDisk: Disk Eraser, Wiper & Sanitizer - Erase HDD/SSD/USB/NVMe Securely
- CMRR - Center for Memory and Recording Research
- Secure Erase is a pain to use because most motherboard BIOSes have disabled it, reasoning that people wouldn't understand that it would vaporize their data forever, leading to costly grief counseling with phone support.
- Secure Erase, a set of commands embedded in most ATA drives built since 2001.
If this is so wonderful, why haven’t you heard of it before? Because it’s been disabled by most motherboard BIOSes.
- Secure Erase is already built into ATA disk drives. This utility is free and non-commercial. SE is part of the ATA standard.
- Secure Erase overwrites every single track on the hard drive. That includes the data on “bad blocks”, the data left at the end of partly overwritten blocks, directories, everything. There is no data recovery from Secure Erase.
- To erase my onboard SATA drive? - some BIOS configuration may be required. Since hdderase.exe only detects drives on the primary and secondary IDE channels (P0, P1, S0, S1) the BIOS must be configured so that the SATA drive is detected one of these channels. This can be done by switching the SATA drive from “enhanced mode” to“compatibility mode” in BIOS (compatibility mode is sometimes called “native mode”or “IDE mode”). E.g. BIOS >> IDE configuration >> onboard IDE operate mode>> compatibility mode. Note - not all BIOSs support this feature.
- Secure erase isn't included on SCSI drives.
- Mac users already have a similar option under the Finder: “Secure Empty Trash”. And with Disk Utility you can perform a secure erase of all drive free space.
Secure Empty Trash just overwrites the files that you have in the trash. That is why the "Erase Free Space" Disk Utility is needed as well.
- The only way to really ensure that sensitive data can't be retrieved from a hard drive is to destroy it. Smashing it with a hammer works for me.
- HDDerase
- HDDerase.exe is a DOS-based utility that securely erases "sanitizes" all data on ATA hard disk drives in Intel architecture computers (PCs). It offers the option to run the drive internal secure erase command, security erase unit, based on the ATA specification by the T13 technical committee.
- To run the utility make a floppy, recordable CD-R, or USB DOS bootable disk; then copy HDDerase.exe to the bootable media. Reboot the computer with the floppy, CD-R, or USB inserted, and type "hdderase" at the system DOS prompt. Make sure to set the correct priority boot order in the system BIOS, such as first boot floppy, CD-R, or USB depending on which media is used to run HDDerase.exe. HDDerase.exe must be run from an actual DOS environment and not a Window based DOS command prompt environment.
- NOTE: For laptop users, please make sure that there is sufficient battery life to run and complete the secure erase procedure. Secure erase may take as long as two hours for larger capacity drives. If power is lost during the secure erase, the drive will be in a locked state, preventing all I/O access. See the FAQ for further discussion on this topic.
- SSD = Solid State Disk
- Windows
- Delete
- It's no secret (or at least, it shouldn't be) that when you delete files or folders in Windows, they're not actually erased—the space they took up is simply marked as "available for use," which allows the files to be recoverable (with the right software) until they're overwritten with new data.
- How to Completely Remove Apps and Programs on Windows
- "Add or remove programs"
- Regedit > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
- File Explorer > "C:\Program Files" and "C:\Program Files (x86)"
- Run > %appdata%
- Run > %temp%
- Disk Cleanup
- Format
- Partition
- cipher.exe - built into Windows - will erase unused space
- cipher /w:c:\
- There is a utility built-into Windows 7 (even XP Pro and Vista) that will overwrite all the free space on a hard drive, insuring any files you've deleted stay dead. Launch a command prompt and type cipher /w:X where X is the letter of the drive or partition you want to wipe. Be patient—the process can take a long time if you have a lot of free space.
- How secure is the windows Cipher command? - Information Security Stack Exchange
- Tools like "cipher.exe" overwrite unallocated disk space, commonly referred to as deleted.
- Recovery
- System Restore & System Recovery
- Crash = BSOD = Blue Sceen of Death
- List all restore points: PS > Get-ComputerRestorePoint
- List all restore points: PS > rstrui
- Reboot > hold the F8 key > Advanced Boot Options > Repair Your Computer > log in > System Restore
- Danger. System Restore will allow hackers to access previously deleted data on your drive.
- When you turn off System Restore, all existing restore points are lost. Also, you can't create a restore point while your system is in Safe Mode, so any restores performed in that mode cannot be undone.
- Why I Don't Like System Restore - Ask Leo!
- How to Create System Restore Points with Command Prompt or PowerShell | Password Recovery
- How to create Windows 10 system restore points automatically on startup | Windows Central
- What's the Difference Between System Reset and System Restore?
- 8 Fixes on No Restore Points Have Been Created in Windows 10
- System Recovery
- System Recovery is a built-in tool that resets your machine to the default factory settings. System Recovery rolls back the machine to the same state as a new machine that you bought. All data, any virus infection, and any installed software - everything is wiped out.
- A restore to factory settings is also known as a reset to factory settings or as a restore to factory defaults.
Restoring a computer to its factory settings will delete all personal files: music, movies, pictures and any installed software applications or drivers that were not included in the original configuration of that computer.
- Restore To Factory Settings – Guide for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10
- Recovery ...
- Task Scheduler (admin)
- How to schedule System Restore Points in Windows 10
- PS > taskschd.msc > Create Task > Name it as Restore Point Creator, and check the box which says Run with highest privileges. > Triggers (tab) > New (button) > Make your selections > Actions (tab) > Program/script = powershell.exe > Add arguments = Checkpoint-Computer -Description "TWC-RestorePoint" -RestorePointType MODIFY_SETTINGS
> Conditions (tab) > ... > Settings (tab) > ... > OK
- PS > Checkpoint-Computer -Description "TWC-RestorePoint" -RestorePointType MODIFY_SETTINGS
- Run command for system properties
+ Pause/Break- Run > msconfig > Tools > System Properties > Launch
- sysdm.cpl