How to Wipe All Data from PC on Windows 10 and 11

Why need to wipe all data from PC？

Whether you want to reuse your computer, plan to sell or throw away your old computer, you need to delete the original data on the computer in advance. However, simply deleting data or formatting disk partition doesn’t help you avoid the risk of data leakage. The data you have stored on your computer can be easily retrieved by data recovery software, because a copy of this data still exists on the drive after it was deleted or this hard drive be formatted, it just become invisible for the users. Therefore, wiping all data from the PC is obviously safer and more efficient.

Four ways: Wipe all data from PC on Windows 10 or 11

But how to effectively wipe all data from the PC to ensure that your personal information is not leaked? It’s not difficult to find the right solutions. In the article, I'll share you with 4 practical ways on how to fully wipe all data from PC.

Method 1. Reset your PC

If you want to wipe your entire Windows drive, resetting your PC is an easy and direct way, which isn't enabled by default. When you choose to reset this PC, Windows restores itself to factory defaults. Please follow the steps below to learn how to wipe all data from PC on Windows 10 and 11:

Steps 1. Click the start button and then click "Settings" on the menu popped.

Steps 2. Select "Update and recovery" and click on "Recovery" in the left taskbar.

Steps 3. Click on "Get Started" under the "Reset this PC" option, then click "Remove everything".

Steps 4. Select "Fully clean the drive" option.

Steps 5. Check the whole operation and click "Reset".

Method 2. Wiping all data from PC via CMD

CMD refers to a Windows built-in tool, through entered commands, you can use many powerful functions including recovering lost files, deleting disks, and converting MBR to GPT, etc. You can also use it to completely erase all data on Windows 10 and 11.

Step 1. Press "Windows" and type "cmd", then select "Run as administrator".

Step 2. Type "format f: /fs:NTFS/p:1" (replace "f" with the drive which you want to wipe) and press "Enter".

Step 3. Type "y" and press "Enter" to wipe the data.

Step 4. You'll be prompted to enter a Volume label, then you should type a name of the drive or you can press "Enter" to skip it.

Step 5. Wait until "Creating file system structures" appears on the screen.

Step 5. Input "exit" and press "Enter" to close the window after you wipe this hard drive.

Method 3. Using Disk Management to wipe all data

In addition to Resetting this PC and CMD, when it comes to wiping all data on the PC, you may think of using Disk Management, which is also a Windows built-in tool. If you don’t know how to wipe all personal data from a PC with Disk Management, I’ll guide you through each correct step.

Before you do: 
✍ Disk Management doesn’t support formatting a drive over 32GB into FAT32 file system.
✍ If your hard drive becomes RAW, the Format button will be grayed out.
✍ Once the hard drive is write-protected, this tool won’t work.

Step 1. Press "Windows+R", and then type "diskmgmt.msc" in the popped window. 

Step 2. Right-click the disk you want to wipe and click "Format".

Step 3. Check the "Volume label", "File system" and "Allocation unit size", then click "OK".

Step 4. Close the Disk Management after wiping all data on your PC.

Method 4. A third-party GUI freeware to wipe all data

Using CMD, Disk Management and resetting the PC are all effective ways to wipe all data from PC on Windows 10 and 11. However, if the file system or size does not meet the criteria, you cannot execute the next operation. Besides, command lines can be difficult to remember in a short time, and it is easy to encounter clean errors when you enter wrong disk number.

You can turn to a powerful data eraser AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, which is compatible with 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. This software breaks through file system and size limitations, and easily wipe all data from your PC with a few clicks without accidentally losing important data.

Notes:
✎ Please backup data you need in advance, or you cannot recover it anymore.
✎ The hard drive we wiped here refers to HDD, if the data you want to wipe is on a SSD, you can upgrade to the Professional Edition to wipe it without hurting through the “SSD Secure Erase” feature. ( HDD and SSD are stored differently, so they are erased differently. Forcibly using an unsuitable method to erase the SSD will shorten its lifespan.)
✎ If you want to wipe a system drive, you can create a bootable USB and boot from it, then execute the operation in Windows PE mode.

Step 1. Install and open AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. Click target hard drive, then select “Wipe Hard Drive” from the right navigation pane.

Step 2. Choose "Fill sectors with Zero" option and click "OK". ( If you want to use the other three methods, please turn to the Professional Version.)

Step 3. Click "Apply" in interface to wipe this hard drive.

Final words

To sum up, this article uses four methods to help you wipe all data from a PC on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7. If you don’t familiar with computer knowledge, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard may be a better choice for you. By the way, if you’re a user of Windows Server, please turn to the Server Version.