

If you have an older copy of Windows or if you like to get into the weeds with different file-deletion methods, a third-party tool like Dban is your best option. The following directions for wiping a computer will work with any system running Windows 10, as well as most Macs. The entry typically says “solid state” or “flash storage” for a solid-state drive (SSD), whereas for a mechanical hard drive it says “hard disk drive.” On a Mac, click the Apple logo and then About this Mac, and select the Storage tab. On Windows, this information is harder to find than it should be, but the easiest way is to open the Defragment and Optimize Drives tool (type “defragment” into the search menu in the taskbar). Next, figure out which type of storage your computer has. For Macs, Apple recommends logging out of any iCloud services, including iTunes and iMessages. How you do this depends on which operating system you have and what type of storage drive your device has.īefore you wipe a computer, make sure that you have a backup of any files you need and deactivate any software that requires doing so. On most devices, wiping your data securely is pretty straightforward, and doing so can prevent your data from being recovered by someone you would rather not have it. The operation usually takes a lot of time, so be careful and patient.Your computer, phone, or tablet holds all kinds of personal information about you, and before you sell, return, recycle, or donate it, you should make sure to delete all of that information correctly. It completely deletes all data stored on the disk, all its partitions, folders, files etc - everything. The "clean all" command fills every sector on the disk with zeroes, so information can't be recovered. This will securely wipe all data from your drive.

Instead of "clean", execute the following command: clean all.It will show a table with all your disks. Type the following in diskpart's prompt: list disk.To securely wipe a disk with diskpart in Windows 10, do the following. You might want to run this to destroy sensitive data from a drive. However, DiskPart also allows you to erase the drive's contents securely, so the information can't be restored any more. The regular clean command doesn't wipe the disk securely. This information can be recovered though, using special data recovery software. Step 2: You will get two options: Keep my files and Remove everything. In the right panel, under Reset this PC section, click Get started button. Click the Start button and then select Settings. This way, you can erase any disk or partition available on your PC. To factory reset a Windows 10 PC, please follow the steps below: Step 1: Choose Reset this PC from Windows. In my case, it is 1, so I have to use the following command: sele disk 1 Now, you need to select your disk in diskpart.

Note the number of the disk you need to erase.

