wipe your hard drive software

[sean126]

I looked through the first 12 pages here to see if I could find anything pertaining to software recommendations for erasing your hard drive clean and didn't see any.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good hard drive eraser program?

I was in the process of copying all my files from my old hard drive (which was bad.....getting blue screens and bad clicking sounds sometimes) to a brand new one and of course with my luck....the old one stopped in the middle of everything and rebooted itself (I think it stopped and rebooted, I had stepped out of the room). Turned if off and back on and the computer decided it didn't want to come back on...period.

Building a new one and want to use my new drive as a storage, but I'd like to clear all the partially downloading things off.

[Panda Man]

You can use windows to just format it. Which disk are we talking about here? You could use a low level formatter or Killdisk. Try something from ubcd.

Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

[Zambini]

Disk Nuker :)

I used it for my dad's old client-tax computer.

[Hitman]

If this is not your system (OS) drive then a simple format in windows will work. Under My Computer just right click the drive you want to format, and select format, and a wizard will pop up.

If it's your OS drive then just reinstall windows and select format drive during setup.

If the Feds (and I don't mean FedEx) are knocking on your door, and you need to make sure nothing on your drive is recoverable the you need BCwipe, and all your dirty little secrets are gone forever.

[sean126]

This was going to be my only hardrive in my old computer...the one that quit on me. My old computer quit on me in the middle of transfering everything over to this new harddrive. It's now going to be just my storage drive on my new computer....I was just wanting to erase the partially downloaded stuff that was on it from before (if any...I haven't checked it yet).

Is reformatting what I want to do or is erase/wipe what I want to do? Basically... I don't want anything on it thats going to take up space, like a new hard drive.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by sean126

It's now going to be just my storage drive on my new computer....I was just wanting to erase the partially downloaded stuff that was on it from before (if any...I haven't checked it yet).

Is reformatting what I want to do or is erase/wipe what I want to do? Basically... I don't want anything on it thats going to take up space, like a new hard drive.

You could simply drag/drop any file remnants to the recycle bin, but this won't delete hidden files and folders. Instead, I'd recommend just doing a quick format from within Windows' Disk Management once you have the new drive up and running. To do so:

1) Right-click on the My Computer icon
2) Select Manage
3) In the left window pane, click/highlight Disk Management
4) In the right window pane, find your storage drive, right-click and select Format

[Jokerswild]

I use eraser. You can make a boot nuke disc using it or just erase what you want to DOD standards or higher.

Eraser - secure data erase tool to blitz files on your hard drive - FREE

[sean126]

Thanks guys....good info, it helped.