![]() ![]() For good measure, carefully drive some nails through the hard drive with a hammer.Rub the drive thoroughly with the magnet.Place an extremely powerful magnet on one side of the drive.Remove your HDD from the computer with a screwdriver.It’s best to use this option for a drive you’re throwing in the trash and have already wiped with software. Windows 8.1 Getting a message that your PC is running out of room can be a stressful eventor, even a genuine emergency if youre in the middle of an important project. This step is drastic because it can permanently damage the hardware. It’s possible to wipe a hard disk drive with a magnetic force, though this won’t work for a solid-state drive because SSDs use electronic circuits instead of magnetic disks to store data. Other reputable alternatives include Disk Wipe, Active KillDisk Freeware, and AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. HP recommends GParted and EaseUS as the best options. These tools are user-friendly and also powerful. The 'Format' window offers a number of options: Capacity: This box shows the capacity of the drive. Right-click any drive in File Explorer, and then click the 'Format' option. Some third-party tools can also help you erase your drive securely. Open File Explorer to the 'This PC' view so that you can see all your drives easily. For example, you can use Samsung Magic to manage your Samsung SSD. This is one of the best ways to format your drive securely and completely. Visit your storage drive’s manufacturer’s website to find maintenance software that allows you to wipe your drive. Find the storage drive you want to wipe.Thankfully, you have several options at your disposal: BIOS Even after using the Windows tools to format your SSD, you may leave behind fragments of data that could put your privacy at risk. The steps listed above for Windows 10 and Windows 11 aren’t always comprehensive enough to wipe an SSD. Find and click Change settings in Additional settings.Ĭheck if you have an SSD or HDD because solid-state drives, while faster and more efficient than hard disk drives, are trickier to format.Chose Local reinstall or Cloud download.Select Wipe the drive after clicking Change Settings.This ensures deleted files on the drive can't be recovered. Type “Settings” to find the Settings app. Option 1: Wipe Any Entire Drive Option 2: Wipe Only Free Space Option 3: Wipe Your Windows System Drive Windows has built-in tools that will let you write zeros to a drive, securely erasing its contents.Once you’re ready, try any of the following software or hardware options: How to wipe a hard drive - Windows 10 Please also backup your essential data, such as your cryptocurrency, pictures, documents, and video game save files because you’ll lose everything for good. Though you may also have hardware problems that look like malware problems, so check for all issues before taking a drastic step. You may even want to wipe a hard drive that you suspect carries some stubborn or sneaky malware. ![]() Or maybe, you want to start fresh after buying a preowned computer. Perhaps you want to protect your privacy before selling or giving away your hardware. There are several good reasons why you may want to wipe your hard drive. A low-level format is a good option if you're concerned about the reliability of the drive.Wiping a hard drive may sound like something a person who diligently cleans their computer hardware does, but in computing, it means permanently deleting all the data on a storage unit. Clear this option to perform a low-level format that takes longer, but checks out every sector of the drive. Quick format: Select this option to perform a high-level format, which works quickly and just readies the drive with a new file system.Related: What is the Difference Between a Quick and Full Format? Volume label: Type a name for the drive as it will appear in File Explorer.Restore device defaults: Use this button to change all the options in the "Format" window back to the default for whatever drive is selected.We recommend leaving this value at its default of 4096 unless you have good reason to change it. Allocation unit size: The allocation unit size represents the maximum cluster size on a drive-the smallest units into which data are broken.If you're formatting a drive over 32 GB, you won't see the FAT32 option here, but we've got a guide to help you work around that if you need to. File system: Depending on the size of the drive you're formatting, you'll see a few options here, including FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS.Related: How to Format USB Drives Larger Than 32GB With FAT32 on Windows The dropdown shows only the drive you selected, so there's not much to do with this option other than make sure you've got the right drive selected. Capacity: This box shows the capacity of the drive.The "Format" window offers a number of options: ![]()
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