However, the fact is that wiping out a hard drive is not as easy as deleting data or formatting hard disk. Formatting a hard drive does not completely erase data either. Though operating system cannot see deleted or formatted data and the drive looks empty, average users are able to get back lost data easily with the help of hard drive recovery software.
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:.
I'm going to selling it to someone but want to ensure all personal files are securely erased. What I want to do is cleaning hard drive completely and reinstalling Windows 7 its configurations does not suitable for Windows Everything on the hard disk has been backed up to my external hard drive, I'm hoping one of you here can tell me how to clearing PC step by step?
I know how to install Windows from CD but have no idea how to safely wipe hard disk. Many thanks! Are you one of those who hold the view that deleting a file is similar to erase it? If yes, you should take a fresh look at this issue. We'll explain reasons in an easier manner.
Hard drive is a kind of storage devices which is used to store digital data. Files are stored on the surface of magnetic and rotating platters in hard disk case. Hard disk changes the magnetic property of platter surface to 1 or 0 when reading or writing data. Thus all data on hard drive will be finally stored in the form of basic binary data, for example, when system saves data like photos, music, etc.
When a file is deleted, those ones and zeros of that files stays unaffected, for only a pointer indicating the file is being deleted.
Therefore, the recovering deleted files is available before file data gets overwritten or damaged. What about disk formatting? Formatting works in a similar way, as it does not actually wipe data. Formatting disk or partition looks like tearing the contents of a book without disturbing actual chapters of the book. Recovery software is also able to retrieve lost files from formatted disk. You may wonder how disk wiping works since deletion and formatting does not work on permanently clean hard drive.
Apart from physical damage to hard drive, we can completely remove data with disk wiping technology. As we've mentioned above, to completely erase disk, we should remove those binary data, which means overwriting those zeros and ones with new data. Once binary data of a file is replaced and overwritten by new data, it cannot be recovered any more. Some professional disk eraser software is able to filling up disk with zeros or random information sector by sector, ensuring no data can be recovered from a wiped disk.
Some preparatory work should be done before wiping computer hard drive in order to make sure the disk wiping can be completed without interruption or causing extra issues. Once everything gets ready, you can start erasing computer hard drive or external disks. The rest part of this instruction will show you how to wipe a hard drive, external disk, SD card or flash drive via different ways. This method wipes computer by using the reset feature in Windows 8.
This section takes Windows 10 as example to explain how to wipe computer completely. If your computer is running an older version of Windows, you can try steps in Method 2 to erase hard disk. Here are steps to wipe a hard drive in Windows Step 1. Click " Start " menu and select " Settings " option. Step 2. Click " Recovery " option on the left navigation options and then click " Get Started " button under " Reset this PC " section.
Step 3. Select " Remove everything " option. This will remove all of your personal files, apps, and settings and start over. Step 4. Select " Remove files and clean the drive " when you are asked to whether to clean the drives too. The cleaning process may take longer time but it makes sure no one can recover erased files.
Step 5. Click " Next " and " Reset " button on following steps to complete the task. The secure way to erase data for good is overwriting data and refill hard disk using zeros or random data, so that nobody can recover wiped data with disk recovery software. Sounds complex? Actually, nowadays cleaning hard disk is not a complicated work, and you can easily and securely erase disk using disk wipe software.
DiskGenius is free software for permanently data wiping. This will list all the applications that are currently installed on your system. Select the application you wish to remove and double-click its icon to get more options. Click on the "Uninstall" button from here. If you get a confirmation prompt, click on the "Uninstall" button again and enter the administrator details of the system. Wait for a while as the application would be deleted from your computer. While the process is the same to uninstall apps in Windows, the overall interface might vary among different versions.
Also, consider restarting your system after uninstalling apps to reset its app data and cache content. If you have a Windows 10 released on May 10, or a newer version, then you can also take the assistance of Storage Sense. It is an inbuilt Windows Utility tool that can help you free up space on C drive automatically. When turned on, it will optimize space on C drive by deleting the unwanted temp files and managing the OneDrive data.
Here's how to increase the C drive space with the Storage Sense settings. Here, you can turn on the "Storage Sense" feature. To further customize things, you can click on the "Change how we free up space automatically" button adjacent to it. This will provide a list of various options that you can select to clear C drive.
For instance, you can turn on the automatic deletion of temporary files, remove data from Recycle Bin, and make cloud content available on the drive. After making the appropriate selections, click on the "Clean Now" button. While working on your Windows system for a while, chances are that you might end up accumulating a lot of temporary data.
Although temp files are used to store certain vital details and make the overall experience smoother, they can also consume a lot of space. The best way to clear the C drive is by cleaning its temporary data at regular intervals by using the Disk Cleanup Utility.
There are multiple ways to access the Disk Cleanup app. One of the easiest ways is to look for it from the start menu. Once the Disk Cleanup application is launched, you need to select the drive you wish to clean. In this case, it will be the C drive. Wait for a while as the application would calculate the data that it can clean from the drive. In the end, it will display a dedicated prompt with details of the data you can delete.
From here, select the "Temporary Files" option and click on the "Ok" button to clean C drive. If you are a regular Windows user, then you must be familiar with the Recycle Bin.
Ideally, when we delete something from the system, it is moved to the Recycle Bin, where it is stored temporarily. Therefore, you can check the Recycle Bin storage and clear it to free up space on C drive. While doing so, just make sure that you don't get rid of any important file. There are different ways to empty Recycle Bin.
For instance, you can just select its icon from the desktop, right-click, and choose the "Empty Recycle Bin" option. Alternatively, if you wish to view the data present in Recycle Bin first, then double-click to open it. From the toolbar, you can also click on the "Empty Recycle Bin" button. Confirm your choice by clicking on the "Yes" button when you get the prompt. In a few seconds, all the stored content from Recycle Bin would be deleted.
If you are not sure of what you can delete from your system, then this would be an ideal option. Simply get another hard drive like an external hard disk and move your important files to it instead. In this way, you can keep your files to another location separately without losing them from your system. Simply connect the second hard disk or an external hard drive to your system and wait for it to be detected.
Cut it from here and paste it on the hard drive. A lot of Windows users put their system on hibernation to save power and time. Though, it can backfire — since the feature creates a dedicated system file hiberfil. During the hibernation, the file would store all the vital details of the system so that you can start from where you left off before. Ideally, it is not recommended to turn off hibernation, if you are used to it.
Nevertheless, if you wish to learn how to clean C drive, then you can give this option a try. To turn off the hibernation feature, you need to launch the Command Prompt first. Go to the Start menu to do it. Just make sure that you launch Command Prompt as an administrator. This will automatically disable the hibernation mode on your system.
This is another method that mostly the experts use to clean C drive on Windows 10, 8, or 7. Data Recovery for Mac.
Data Recovery for iPhone. Before I sell it, I want to wipe the hard drive and permanently erase all my private data. But, after I format the hard drive, the data still can be found by data recovery software. Is there any solution to permanently wipe data on Windows 7 hard drive? How to securely wipe hard drive for Windows 7?
Just format or reformat the Windows 7 hard drive? If you just format the hard drive in Windows 7, any data recovery software can easily recover all your formatted data. So, it is not safe if you want to donate, sell, give away or dispose your Windows 7 computer. In order to permanently erase data from Windows 7 hard drive, you need special data erasure tool.
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