How To Wipe A Hard Drive

The first thing you should do before you begin any kind of hard drive cleaning process is to back up all of your files onto an alternative storage device such as an external hard drive, CD/DVD, memory card, etc.

This will ensure that if anything goes wrong during the clean-up process, you can still recover your data. If you don’t have a backup system in place, then you could end up losing everything.

The next step is to make sure that you are using a good quality (and preferably brand new) hard drive.

You want to use a drive that has been tested by reputable manufacturers for added peace of mind – remember, your hard drive is essentially the heart of your device, and so you need a brand that you can trust.

This involves writing over the entire surface of the drive with zeros. There are different ways to achieve this depending on the operating system that you’re running, but the general idea is the same.

For example, Windows users can format their drives using Disk Management, while Mac OS X users can use Disk Utility.

If you are using Windows, you can access Disk Management by heading to Start, Control Panel, System and Security, and Administrative Tools.

Then head to Computer Management, Storage, and Disk Management – click this to run the program.

You can also access Disk Management by opening the Command Prompt and typing “diskmgmt.msc”, then hitting Enter.

For Mac users, Disk Utility can be accessed by clicking the Spotlight icon, typing “Disk Utility” and hitting enter to run the tool.

Once you’ve formatted the drive, you can now proceed with the actual “wipe” process.

To do this, you’ll need to select the option to erase the drive completely. This will overwrite every bit of data on the drive with random numbers, ensuring that no trace of your previous data remains.

To erase your hard drive on Windows, go to Start, Settings, Update, and Security and Recovery. Click Recovery to launch the process, and follow the on-screen steps to wipe your hard drive.

To wipe a hard drive on Mac, turn your machine off, and then turn the power on, and hold down Command + R until the Apple logo appears.

The Recovery window will appear, and you can select Disk Utility, choose your hard drive, and select Erase.

Once you have wiped the hard drive, you should make sure that you complete a fresh reinstall of your operating system – this is extra reassurance that everything is wiped, fresh and new.