Easily & Securely Do Hard Drive Destruction by Yourself

Why do you need hard drive destruction?

Personal information is stored on our computers which includes social security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and internet logins and passwords. Even if we use a data-wiping application to delete this data or reformat the hard disk, it is conceivable that this information will remain on the hard drive.

Thus, it's important to remove and destroy hard drives especially if you want to recycle or donate your computer. However, it's not as simple as hitting it with a hammer.

Backup your hard drive before hard drive destruction

The first thing before we actually destroy the hard drive is to back up your disk. Back up all of the hard drive's information, including photographs and movies, or upload to a cloud storage service before deleting the old hard drive, or cloning your hard drive to another disk.

To clone a hard drive, you need to use a third-party tool because Windows doesn’t have a built-in tool. Here we recommend you AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to help you easily clone hard drive to another one.

You can choose to only clone the used part or directly clone all to create an exact duplicate of the current disk, this depends on the size of the destination disk. If it’s smaller, you can choose the former plan. It’s very flexible. And if you wish to only keep a familiar Windows, you can turn to “Migrate OS to SSD” to only clone OS to another disk.

Step 1. Install and open AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. In the main interface of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, click “Clone”  menu and then “Clone Disk”.

Step 2. Select a copying method you need from "Clone Disk Quickly" and "Sector-by-Sector Clone". Here we select “Clone Disk Quickly” as an example.

Step 3. Select the Windows system disk as the source disk and hit on “Next”.

Step 4. Then select the new disk as the destination disk and click “Next”.

Step 5. Now, you can also resize partitions just being created on that disk.

Step 6. Read the subsequent boot note, click “Finish” and then click “Apply” to execute the pending operation.

Now your new disk is ready. We can move on.

How to execute secure hard drive destruction?

After you clone your old hard drive, this disk can be destroyed now.

Part 1. Completely wipe hard drive

The first part is to completely wipe all data on the hard drive. If the hard drive is a system disk, then Windows will not allow you to wipe the C drive. So, you can also use AOMEI Partition Assistant to wipe the system disk quickly.

The “Wipe Hard Drive” feature offers you 4 ways to thoroughly clean your information to prevent data recovery tools to restore your privacy: fill sectors with zero, or with random data; DoD 5220.22-M (overwrites a drive with a set of zeros, ones, and data through 3 passes), and Gutman (35 passes to overwrite a drive).

Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click the hard drive you want to wipe, then choose “Wipe Hard Drive”.

Step 2. Then choose a proper one as the wiping method.

Step 3. Back to the main interface, and click “Apply” to perform.

If you want to reuse your hard drive to sell, give it to another user, or donate, we suggest you choose the last 2 ways.

Part 2. Dissemble your hard drive

If you want to shred your hard drive, you can follow the steps in this part. You need to prepare a Torx screwdriver and a flathead screwdriver to open the case.

Unplug your computer and remove the lid or side panel first. Some cases are tool-free, requiring simply the loosening of some restrictions, whilst others may need the use of a screwdriver to remove screws.

Usually, your hard drive is put into a drive bay or bolted to the chassis's side. Simply unplug the power and data wires before removing the drive from the computer. If it's screwed in place, you'll need a Philips head screwdriver to remove it from the PC.

Laptop users should consult their user manuals or contact customer service for instructions on removing the hard drive. Most users merely need to open the bottom cover to inspect the interior and remove it with a screwdriver.

Step 1. After you take your hard drive out, you can flip the hard drive over so you can see the main circuit board.

Step 2. Use a Torx driver to unscrew the circuit board using the four Torx screws.

Step 3. Remove the board, break it in half, scrape the surface of each plate with a flathead screwdriver, and discard all.

Then your hard drive destruction is finished.

Final lines

Hard drive destruction can protect your information from incautious leaking. You can follow this post to destroy hard drive and execute hard drive destruction by yourself. AOMEI Partition Assistant can help you protect your data with many helpful features.

As a multifunctional tool, it can also move folders and apps, convert a disk to MBR and GPT without deleting partitions, clean junk files, test disk speed, monitor disk health, etc. And there is the Server Edition for users to conveniently manage Windows Server computers.