[Updated] 3 Safe Alternatives to DBAN for Wiping Hard Drive

User case: Need an alternative to DBAN

If you want to securely erase your hard drive, you may heard about Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN), however, since it has not been updated since June 2015 and many other reasons, it cannot work well with newer hardware and operating systems. So many users are looking for a better DBAN alternative, like the above post from Reddit. In this passage, we will give you a comprehensive introduction about DBAN and its best alternative for you.

What is DBAN disk eraser?

DBAN (Dariks Boot and Nuke) is generally used to wipe the hard drive before reuse, donation, or sale for privacy. It can erase everything on the disk, including applications, personal files, recovery partition, and operating system. 

Because this utility cannot operate while the operating system is running, you must boot from a bootable USB or CD/DVD to erase the hard drive. It's basically a boot disk that works on its own; all you have to do is download the ISO image from the official website and burn it to a device that can read it. DBAN will delete all of your computer's disks if you don't choose anything.

However, Dariks Boot and Nuke will permanently wipe data from the target drive, and there is no way to recover the erased data once the process is complete. So, plese ensure you have backed up any important data beforehand.

How to erase hard disk drive with DBAN?

As we mentioned above, the Darik's Boot and Nuke only works when the hard drive is erased from the BIOS, you need to prepare a USB so that DBAN can boot from it. Please note that all data are irrecoverable after erasing, so it is advisable to back up important data to an external hard drive, or please think twice before beginning. Then follow the steps below.

Step 1. First, go to the DBAN official website to download its ISO image file, and then burn the file to USB.

Step 2. Go to BIOS and set the DBAN bootable USB as the first boot option. Then, restart this device.

Step 3. Wait for a while, you will see Dariks Boot and Nuke blue screen. You have many choices, press the displayed function keys to learn more about DBAN, or directly press Enter to start the disk wiping process.

Step 4. In the next window, you will see all the detected hard drives and several options at bottom. Type M to learn about the disk wiping method.

Step 5. In the Wipe Method section, press "J" or "K" to scroll up or down and learn about the disk wipe methods. After that, select which method you want to use and press the Space key to confirm.

Step 6. Select the drive you want to wipe and press the Space key to confirm. Then, you will see a “wipe” word at the beginning of the selected box.

Step 7. Press 10 to start the erasure process. After you see the green words “DBAN succeeded”, all selected disks have been wiped” message on the screen.

DBAN quick erase command makes the erasing work only with the keyboard, thus ensuring a well-functioned keyboard is provided. As covered before, DBAN provides different data sanitization methods, dod, dodshort, ops2, Gutmann, prng, and quick. DBAN recommends the [DoD Short] erasing method if you are not sure about what to choose.

Why need an alternative to DBAN?

Although DBAN is powerful, many users are still searching for a better alternative. In fact, users want to find an alternative to DBAN for many reasons, including:

Sometimes, DBAN disk erasing will not work normally and will send a message saying “Finished with non-fatal errors” even though the wipe has not been started yet.

The best DBAN alternative Software – AOMEI Partition Assistant

If you are looking for a best alternative to DBAN, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is a reliable disk wiping and erasing tool with a user-friendly interface. To erase data on HDD, SSD, external hard drives, USB flash drives, or any second disks, there is no need to create a bootable device first.

To wipe HDD and secure erase SSD, AOMEI Partition Assistant provides different arrangements, which makes it more professional at disk data clearing. It works on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, both MBR and GPT partition tables. To wipe HDD with this software, please refer to wipe external hard drive in Windows 10 for more information. The following tutorial will take erasing an Intel SSD as an example.

Step1. Connect your SSD to a Windows 7-based computer. Download and install AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional (Demo) to that computer.

Step2. Click the disk you want to wipe, then choose "Wipe"> “SSD Secure Erase” on the top side.

Step3. Select the SSD you want to erase here.

Step 4. You may find the SSD is in a frozen state. Then, you’ll need a hot-swap to unfreeze it. See secure erase frozen drive for specific steps, or you can click provided link on the page to learn the steps.

Step5. You should be able to erase SSD after the hot-swap. Click “Next” and wait for the process to be completed.

In summary, AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro is one of the best alternatives to DBAN to secure wipe SSD and other disks. With this software, you can also do many other tasks. As an example, you can use SSD for OS and HDD for storage after erasing.

Other 2 DBAN alternatives

To wipe disk, there are other 2 DBAN alternatives. Even if it is not so easy-to-use and multifunctional as the best tool, AOMEI Partition Assistant, it still offers a practical way to erase your data.

Method 1. Use the Diskpart as the DBAN alternative

Diskpart is a command-line disk partition tool for Windows. It allows you make partitions, delete partitions, merge partitions, and more. Follow these steps to use diskpart clean all commands to get rid of all the data on a hard drive.

Step 1. Type cmd in the search box and select Run as administrator.

Step 2. Wait for a while, you will see the black command prompt window, type the following commands and then press Enter in order.

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk x (x is the number of the disk you want to clean.)
• clean all

Step 3. To close this window, type exit.

Method 2. Take Disk Management as the DBAN alternative

Disk Management is an inbuilt disk partition manager in Windows that enables you to delete data by formatting your hard drive. However, this also means that it is possible to recover the formatted files with a Windows data recovery tool. If you want to permanently and safely wipe SSD or other disks, it is better to use AOMEI Partition Assistant as well.  

Step 1. Press Win + R to summon the Run window, type diskmgmt.msc and hit Enter to open Disk Management.

Step 2. In the Disk Management window, right-click the volume on the hard drive you want to wipe and select Format... to continue.

Step 3. Here you will see a pop-up window like Format F:, select file system and uncheck Perform a quick format option. Then, click OK.

Step 4. You will be told that formatting this volume will erase all data on it and ask if you want to keep this operation, type OK.

Conclusion

Here are all alternatives to DBAN. As you can see, AOMEI Partition Assistant can offer a reliable and easy solution to securely wipe SSD and other disks. This tool also helps to fix low disk space warning, partition managment, rebuild corrupted MBR, and so on. If you are a Windows Server user, please choose the AOMEI Partition Assistant Server edition.

FAQs about alternative to DBAN

Can DBAN be used to wipe an SSD? DBAN is not intended for wiping SSD disks, as it is designed primarily for traditional hard drives. To erase an SSD, you can explore other options such as Diskpart, Disk Management, or a third-party partition manager like AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Is DBAN still effective? DBAN remains a reliable option for completely wiping a hard drive. However, some users have reported declining compatibility with newer hardware, as it has not received updates since 2015.

What are alternatives to DBAN? Due to DBAN's limitations, you might seek a superior alternative. Several options are available, including using diskpart clean all commands, performing a full format in disk management, or employing a third-party tool like AOMEI Backupper Standard. Choose the one that best suits your requirements.