How to Wipe Data Completely on a Laptop Hard Drive?

Theo Lucia

Dec 21, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions

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You may use a laptop for several years, but eventually, it needs to be upgraded for over-crowed data. Otherwise, you may choose to upgrade the hard disk to a higher capacity to catch up with the up-to-date laptop settings.

Probably you decide to sell the old laptop hard drive. But there is a lot of confidential life and work files and trackings, such as account login token, browsing history, photos, videos, etc.

We shall discuss how to wipe laptop's hard drive in a secure way. And before starting the laptop format, there are three tips for you.

1. Follow the techniques and methods mentioned in this article step by step.
2. Make a backup of your essential files.
3. Transfer all the software licenses to your new laptop, which may require some calls to the customer service department.

How to securely wipe laptop hard drive with Eraser

Stellar BitRaser is a professional eraser software that can wipe your hard drive data securely and completely. Once the data is wiped out, it cannot be recoverable anymore. Besides, It also provides a certificate of the task of erasing the files, so that you can approve it to your companies. 17 different standard and advanced erasing algorithms are backed, which is a nice option for advanced users, while novice users can use it simply by just a few clicks.

• Click the above download link to free download Stellar BitRaser for the file on your Windows computer and launch it.
• Click the "Erase Now" section and select the drive you want to wipe.

• Click the button "Erase Now" to process.
• After completely erased you can reboot the system.

How to wipe a laptop hard drive without software

If for some reason you are unable to install additional software, you can still use the built-in functionality in Windows to wipe the hard drive. The process varies slightly for wiping the primary boot disk.

Wiping the secondary (non-boot) disk

1. Open Windows Explorer by pressing Windows + E or by double-clicking This PC on the desktop or start menu. Then navigate the various drives and make sure that that is absolutely the location that you need to wipe. Anything and everything there will be wiped.
2. Open the Command Prompt from the Start menu (open the Start menu and type ‘cmd’).
3. Type the following and hit Enter. It will overwrite the destination (assumed to be D: in this case) with all 0s, thus erasing any original data. D: /fs:NTFS /p:1

Wiping the primary (boot) disk

1. If you already have a repair disk, then you can skip this step, else create a repair disk. To do this, insert a blank CD or DVD into the DVD burner, then go to Backup and Restore in Control Panel. Click on ‘Create a system repair disc’ and follow the instructions
2. Enter the repair disk into the disk drive and then boot into it. You do this by going to boot options. Pay attention during BIOS flash, and press the button mentioned to take you to the boot menu or options.
3. Choose ‘Use recovery tools that can help fix problems starting Windows’
4. Open Command Prompt by going to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt
5. Enter the following command, which acts similarly as mentioned in the previous section. C: /fs:NTFS /p:2

Your laptop’s hard drive can contain some very sensitive information, and hence you must not take it lightly when discarding it. Fortunately, there are various ways to ensure the destruction of any data beyond recovery. Even for those who are not technically astute, tools like Stellar BitRaser for the file can provide simple ways to ensure the safe erasure of data.

Final Words

In the above two parts, I have introduced two methods to wipe a laptop hard drive either through software or through an in-built program. Hope you can benefit from the post.

Some users may get struggled with data loss without a backup after laptop's hard drive erasing. Don't be upset, you can ask Wondershare Recoverit for help. And watch the following video to know data recovery after a hard drive format.

Note! The above download button is for Wondershare Recoverit. Not for Stellar BitRaser.

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