Formatting only makes data disappearing apparently. To erase data from hard disk drive completely, it’s wise to employ disk wipe software.
▶ Need to wipe disk data completely ▶ Free disk wipe software for Windows 10, 8, 7 ▶ How to: use the disk wipe software ▶ Wrap things up
When you want to sell or donate it after replacing the old hard drive with a new or larger drive, you may consider formatting the hard drive or delete all partitions to protect personal information.
However, after formatting, the data saved on the disk don’t really disappear and can be easily recovered by certain data recovery software. To keep your private information from exposure, it’s advised to wipe your hard disk drive completely. Wiping disk also can be helpful if you face issues such as hard drive only showing half capacity, hard drive slowing to respond, etc.
To wipe disk data completely in Windows 10/8/7, you can choose to zero fill hard drive from Command Prompt by running “format n: /fs:NTFS /p:1” command. After that, every bit in the disk will be replaced by a zero volume. However, this process can be a lit bit complicated and time-consuming for a green hand in computer. In such a condition, here introduces a great disk wipe tool, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.
♦ It allows you to wipe an entire hard disk, wipe a specific single partition, or wipe a file (files) on the hard drive. ♦ It has "Make Bootable Media" function, allowing you to create a bootable USB; you can boot PC from the USB and wipe disk if system crashes. ♦ It has a user-friendly & intuitive user interface, allowing you to handle it effortlessly.
Now, free download it and see how it erases disk data totally in Windows 10/8.1/8/7 presented in the following content.
Step 1. Install and run the disk wipe tool for hard disk, right-click the disk that you want to wipe, and choose “Wipe Hard Drive”.
Step 2. Choose the first way “Fill sectors with Zero” to wipe your disk. Then, click “OK”.
To employ one of the other three wiping methods, you need to upgrade to Professional version. ✔ Fill sectors with random data: This method writes random data to all sectors, which is more secure than the first option. ✔ DoD 5220.22-M: A software-based data sanitization method, can prevent all software based file recovery methods form recovering data. It is very much safer but takes a longer time. ✔ Gutmann: A software-based data sanitization way to overwrite existing information, preventing all software based file recovery methods from retrieving data and most hardware-based recovery methods form recovering information on the wiped flash drive. 35 passes make the erase more secure but take more time.
Step 3. You’ll go back to the main interface. Confirm the operation and click “Apply”> “Proceed” to execute it.
✍ Note: This way is for destroying data on hard disk drive (HDD). If you want to erase data on solid-sated-drive (SSD), you can use SSD Secure Erase Wizard that is available in AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.
The professional disk wipe software – AOMEI Partition Assistant is very useful in destroying data completely. And it is featured with many other functions. It allows you to migrate OS to new hard drive without reinstalling; convert disk from MBR to GPT/GPT to MBR; extend partition with non-adjacent unallocated space and so on.