Forum Discussion
How do I wipe my hard drive before recycling on Windows 11 computer?
A simple delete or formatting is not enough to protect the data. You need a dedicated disk wiping app to permanently delete all files from the drive. Here is a good example for this case:
https://www.ammdiy.com/how-to-permanently-wipe-a-drive
I just happened to deal with an old hard drive recently, and I want to completely empty the data before recycling it. In fact, it is not difficult to do this on Windows 11.
Don't just rely on "delete" or "format". These methods are actually not safe. Others can still find your files with recovery tools. So you need to use a more ruthless method to wipe the hard drive before recycling.
The simplest command line method is to use the diskpart that comes with Windows:
Click the Start menu, search cmd, right-click "Run as Administrator";
Type diskpart and press Enter;
Then enter the following command:
list disk
select disk X (X is the number of the disk you want to clear)
clean allThis clean all command will overwrite every sector of the entire hard drive with 0, which is a physical level erase, and it is very difficult to recover. Although it is a bit slow, it is very suitable for wiper hard drive before recycling.
Of course, if you don't want to mess around with the command line, I've used a simpler tool called Dr.Wiper. It's a fool-proof operation. Just select the hard drive and click "erase". It supports multiple secure erasure algorithms. No matter which method you choose, remember to completely erase it, otherwise others may find some "past" from your old hard drive...
In short, wipe hard drive before recycling must be taken seriously, don't give your privacy away for nothing.