Wiping an HDD completely

[fr]

Hey. Bought a new SSD to put in a new computer with an older 1tb HDD. How do I wipe ALL the stuff on the old HDD so it’s almost “factory new”, and ready for other people to use it? It’s currently in my old pc with another older ssd :)
Thanks

[Omega]

If you want to be sure no data is recoverable use Hirens Boot CD to do a boot and nuke.

[fr]

Originally posted by Omega:

If you want to be sure no data is recoverable use Hirens Boot CD to do a boot and nuke.

Can it be done without using a third party software? My brother is getting the computer, so it isn’t the worst thing ever if some things are recoverable :)

[emoticorpse]

Originally posted by Korg but where's Meek:

Originally posted by Omega:

If you want to be sure no data is recoverable use Hirens Boot CD to do a boot and nuke.

Can it be done without using a third party software? My brother is getting the computer, so it isn’t the worst thing ever if some things are recoverable :)

If you're not worried about stuff being recovered, just right the click the drive in Windows and select "format..." and follow simple directions (couple clicks). The drive will appear as empty in Windows.

[Omega]

Originally posted by Korg but where's Meek:

Originally posted by Omega:

If you want to be sure no data is recoverable use Hirens Boot CD to do a boot and nuke.

Can it be done without using a third party software? My brother is getting the computer, so it isn’t the worst thing ever if some things are recoverable :)

Then simply deleting the partitions will do. In Windows right click the start button and select Disk Management, then simply right click and delete the partition.

Or you can just leave it as is and let your brother wipe the drive when he reinstalls Windows.

[OLDMAN🎅]

Originally posted by Korg but where's Meek:

Hey. Bought a new SSD to put in a new computer with an older 1tb HDD. How do I wipe ALL the stuff on the old HDD so it’s almost “factory new”, and ready for other people to use it? It’s currently in my old pc with another older ssd :)
Thanks

laptop image with dban logo
Free Open-Source Data Wiping Software for Personal Use

Delete information stored on hard disk drives (HDDs) in PC laptops, desktops or servers. Plus, remove viruses/spyware from Microsoft Windows installations. https://dban.org/

YouTube™ Video: Darik's Boot And Nuke (DBAN) - Wipe Your Hard Drive - Complete Tutorial 

Views: 194,350

How to clean wipe your hard drive using Dariks Boot and Nuke. Description of Software From Developers: DBAN is intended for individuals or home use to support data erasure needs.

[fr]

Originally posted by Omega:

Originally posted by Korg but where's Meek:

Can it be done without using a third party software? My brother is getting the computer, so it isn’t the worst thing ever if some things are recoverable :)

Then simply deleting the partitions will do. In Windows right click the start button and select Disk Management, then simply right click and delete the partition.

Or you can just leave it as is and let your brother wipe the drive when he reinstalls Windows.

And I’ll have no problem installing windows on the new ssd, when booting from a flash drive? (When some data is still left on the HDD)

[Omega]

Originally posted by Korg but where's Meek:

Originally posted by Omega:

Then simply deleting the partitions will do. In Windows right click the start button and select Disk Management, then simply right click and delete the partition.

Or you can just leave it as is and let your brother wipe the drive when he reinstalls Windows.

And I’ll have no problem installing windows on the new ssd, when booting from a flash drive? (When some data is still left on the HDD)

Nope.

Use the boot override in BIOS to force the PC to boot the Windows 10 installation drive, then on the "Where do you want to install Windows?" screen you can delete all the partitions on the drive. Even if you don't delete the partitions the Windows installer will format these partitions automatically and reuse them.

[Azza ☠]

If you don't need to secure wipe it.

Then just add it in as a 2nd drive (not being the Operating System or Boot drive).

Go under your 'My Computer' (showing the drives list) > Right-click the drive > Format

Ensure it's formatted to the correct format (default would be NTFS with 4096 byte allocation unit size). Untick 'Quick Format'. Optionally give the drive a 'Volume Label' or leave that blank, doesn't matter if you want to call it something or not. Double check there's nothing you want to keep on it. Then click on 'Start'.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Install os fresh to ssd.
Once ready to look at an older secondary drive, delete all available partitions on it via disk manager. Zero Wipe it the rest of the way via CCleaner, tools, disk wiper, entire disk...

[_I_]

if its for your own usage, just quick format it again

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

use windows installer with both old hdd and new ssd.
when prompted to install windows, first format both drives one at a time and then install windows OS on SSD.

after installation is finished, turn off pc and unplug from wall socket. you can now remove hdd to transfer to other pc.

[vadim]

Just use SATA secure erase feature. It implemented in the drive firmware, so it doesn't need any external programs. You can start it with standard hdparm or appropriate Windows system utility.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Especially if the drive was from any prebuild system as this may contain hidden or system restore types of partitions that some methods may not allow you to erase. Just secure erase the entire drive which wipes all partitions 100%

Where as a quick format is just for a single partition and leaves all that hidden stuff still on the drive

Once drive is 100% wiped, then create a single partition and format as... MBR, NTFS and 4K clusters

[DevaVictrix]

As far as I am aware the best way to completely erase a hard drive is to use the secure erase feature built into the drive's firmware.

You can use HDDErase from CMRR or hdparm. I've used both and HDDearse is easier to use and DOS based. Just make a bootable DOS usb. I'm a Linux user so prefer hdparm but it's a bit harder to use and if you mess things up you will ruin your drive.

https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase
https://cmrr.ucsd.edu/_files/secure-erase-qa.doc

After that, degaussing, or a hammer!

[Ad Hominem]

If you just want to clear it to start again fresh you can format the drive. It will erase everything. If you want to have it totally secure to where no one can ever recover anything off of it, then you need to use software that will actually write all 0's to every bit on the drive, and usually do it multiple times to be sure.

When you delete a file or format a drive it really doesn't change all the 0's and 1's, it just tells your computer that the space is free without actually 'erasing'or writing over the data. This is usually fine for 98% of people who just want to clear it out and start fresh with an empty hard drive. If you took that drive to a data recovery place though, they could still read the data that was 'deleted' because the 1's and 0's are still there. This is how police can recover data, even if the hard drive was smashed into pieces.

Sometimes though, especially in government and other places where security is extremely important, they want to make sure that the data can never be recovered so they use a program that actually writes over the old data repeatedly to be super secure.

TLDR you can format the drive. It's really easy to do in Windows, especially if it's not the drive with the OS installed on it. Just go to 'This PC', right click on the drive, and click 'Format'