Erase hard disc windows xp

You can download it and follow the steps below to see how it works. And it is safer than zero-filling method. So it is one of the most common data destruction ways to dispose personal data. But it takes more time to complete.

It provides much higher security but also gives wear to the drive. Step 3. Otherwise, the SSD's life span would be reduced. Click " Permanently Delete " button on the popped-up window. In order to completely delete the file, the application will refill hard drive sectors taken by the file during deletion. By default, it overwrites data by filling zeros which can be modified to random data as well.

Click " Delete " button to confirm the action to be done. Case 4: Erase deleted files only without affecting existing data. Erasing free space on hard drive overwrites lost files, which does not disturb existing files on the disk.

This solution applies to those who just want to overwrite lost files only in order to make lost data unrecoverable. Select characters to overwrite disk space and click " Erase " button. The application starts cleaning unused disk space, which takes long time if free space is very larger. Physically destroying a hard drive is also a solution to ensure data is forever unrecoverable.

If you are not going to reuse or recycle your hard drive, you can try this solution to clean data. Use a screwdriver to remove all screws on the hard drive case. Then you'll be able to remove enclosure and the main circuit board. Remove platters and heads out of hard drive enclosure, and use a hammer to hit platters.

Then repeatedly strike other components. Box up all components and throw them to garbage can. This article talks about three methods regarding how to wipe a hard drive, SD card or removable disk, helping to make sure sensitive data can be erased safely and completely. Files erased by these methods are no longer available for data recovery , thus please make sure important files have been backed up to somewhere else before erasing any storage media.

If you feel this article useful, please share it to help more people. If you have better solutions or any questions about this topic, feel free to contact us please. DiskGenius - A free disk eraser that can permanently wipe a hard drive or SD card sector by sector. DiskGenius is professional data recovery software and it can help you get back lost files or partitions and recover RAW drive with ease.

Learn More. Partition Manager. Disk Utilities. Beyond your imagination DiskGenius can do more! Summary How do you permanently erase data so that it cannot be recovered? When it comes to changing hard drive or giving away a computer, simply deleting files or formatting the hard drive is not enough to ensure privacy, as data recovery software makes it possible to recover lost or deleted data easily.

Being the case, you can follow solutions in this article to permanently erase all data on computer hard drive to ensure your personal data can be well protected. Table of Contents Overview on wiping a hard drive in Windows 10 What to do before wiping a hard drive? If you view tech forums or comminutes online, you can see lots of users looking for an easy way to clean storage devices, and here is one of them: "What is the best way to clean the hard drive of my laptop?

How does hard disk wiping works? What to do before wiping a hard drive? Download and install hard drive wipe software. If you plan to clean hard disk on your own, a disk wipe tool is necessary. You should select one easy-to-use and effective tool for the task. If you want to wipe the entire computer, you should make sure the software can work on bootable drive.

Ensure battery is full. If you're about to remain the Windows XP and make the computer bootable, it should work by going back to the factory defaults. Restoring a computer to its factory settings will delete all data, programs, and drivers that were not included in the original configuration of that computer. As you see, the factory reset simply deletes the data and restores the system; it does not erase the disk, and the lost files are still recoverable.

So, factory reset can't wipe a hard drive on the computer. Then, how to do it? One efficient way to permanently and completely wipe hard drive data on your Windows XP hard drive without using an installation disc is to apply a data erasing tool. Now, download this simple data wiping tool to wipe a hard drive in Windows XP without installation disc.

Once the wiping starts, your data is irrecoverable. If you mean to permanently remove everything, including the operating system, you need to wipe a whole hard disk by other means. Average computer users even don't have a clue.

Notice: Select the correct OS drive to erase. Otherwise, your data will lose permanently. Finally, let's go over the main contents of this tutorial.

Note again, restoring your computer to factory reset can't wipe the hard drive, some restore your computer to the factory state and delete data partitions. No matter how many partitions it has on a hard disk, you can open Disk Management to delete all partitions on Windows computer.

Before performing deleting in Windows Disk Management, please pay attention to following points:. You cannot delete a system partition on any Windows computer. All data on the deleted partition would be erased permanently. Open Disk Management on Windows computer. Right click any partition except system partition and select Delete Partition option.

On Windows 7, 8, 10, you may select Delete Volume option. Confirm to delete the selected partition, after which the selected partition would show as free space under Disk Management. Well, Disk Management is only able to delete each partition one by one. You cannot delete all partitions on a disk at the same time. Diskpart is a little more complex than Disk Management to delete all partitions on a computer because it does not have a user-friendly interface.

However, if you have a little knowledge about computer, you will also find it easy to handle.