Shredit for Windows costs $24.95 for the download version or $34.95 for the CD-ROM version. A number of different government standards are supported. The software lets you pick the write pattern and the number of writes. Shredit for Windows is a privacy application that is designed to securely erase individual files, free space, or entire hard drives. Furthermore, erase operations can be run manually or scheduled. This utility allows you to securely erase specific files, folders, unused disk space, or even the recycle bin. You can even define your own method for overwriting data. The most interesting thing about this utility is that it provides several different methods for overwriting data, based on a number of different standards. EraserĮraser from Heidi Computers, is another free utility for securely erasing data from a hard disk. When a hard disk has been erased, the software generates a certificate that you can print as a way of proving that the disk has been securely erased. More importantly, this utility adheres to United States Department of Defense standards (DoD 5220.22M) for hard disk data removal.Īlthough some might consider it to be hokey, I especially liked the certificate feature. SEE: Quick glossary: Storage (Tech Pro Research) Disk – Hard Drive Kill Disk – Hard Drive Eraser is a free utility for securely erasing a hard drive. That being the case, I decided to create a list of five utilities for securely erasing and formatting old hard drives. In this age of rampant ID theft, it is more important than ever to ensure that your personal information is securely removed from all hard disks. When it comes to disposing of old hard drives, simply erasing your files or reformatting the drive alone is not enough to ensure your privacy. TechRepublic Premium editorial calendar: IT policies, checklists, toolkits, and research for download Get Microsoft Office Pro and lifetime access to 5 top apps for $59.99 Be sure to back up everything important first.8 best HR analytics tools and software for your business in 2023 Warning: This process will erase all the files, applications, and settings on your drive, leaving you with a fresh Windows installation without any of your files. You can now click “Confirm” and continue through the process to reset your Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC and wipe your drive during this process. Windows warns you that this process may take hours-as always, it depends on the speed and size of the drive in your computer. Under Additional Settings, select “Change Settings.”Ĭlean the switch under “Clean data?” to set it to “Yes.” With this option enabled, Windows will “clean the drive” and make it much harder (theoretically, practically impossible) to recover your files Also, believe it or not, Cloud Download can be faster than Local Reinstall as Windows just has to download installation files rather than reassembling them from the files on your computer’s hard drive-it depends on the speed of your internet connection. “ Cloud Download” is useful if your local Windows operating system files are corrupted and the Reset This PC process won’t work otherwise. If you’re not sure which to pick, we recommend selecting “Local Reinstall” to avoid the big download. Select “Local Reinstall” or “Cloud Download,” either will work for this process. This method is ideal for internal drives that don’t have your operating system installed, USB flash drives, other external storage devices, and any entire partitions you want to erase. Also, you can’t perform a full format of your Windows system drive while you’re running Windows from it. Before you do this, bear in mind that this will completely erase all files on the drive. To write zeros over the contents of any drive, all you have to do is perform a full format of the drive. Assuming an attacker can’t get your encryption key, they wouldn’t be able to recover deleted files from a drive-they wouldn’t even be able to access files that aren’t yet deleted. This is a particularly important step to take when you’re selling or otherwise disposing of a computer, drive, or USB stick that had sensitive private data on it.īy the way, if a drive is encrypted, this provides a lot of additional protection. This is actually a pretty simple process: Windows will write zeroes or other junk data to every sector of the drive, forcibly overwriting any data already there with junk data. To prevent this from happening, you can “wipe” a drive.
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