Erase private information from a hard disk

Have you ever sold an old hard disk? If yes, how did you deal with private or sensitive information saved on the disk? There are 2 commonly used ways: format the device or empty recycle bin after deleting files. But we have to say both deleted data and data saved on formatted drive could be recovered before these files are overwritten by new files.

Tip: if users want to prevent deleted or formatted data from being recovered, they need to write lots of new files to the partition where lost or formatted files were originally stored until they are overwritten. But unfortunately, most of us do not know when target files are overwritten.

So, how can we erase private or sensitive information from a hard disk completely? Free partitioning software can help do it in easy steps. Here, we take MiniTool Partition Wizard for example.

This program provides users with 2 functions to erase data, including Wipe Partition and Wipe Disk. If private files are just saved in one partition, choose the former function. If the entire hard disk saves sensitive files, choose the latter function. Both of them erase data via automatically filling sectors with specific or random value(s). In addition, only few steps are required. Let’s see detailed operations.

Erase Private Information from a Hard Disk with MiniTool Partition Wizard
Step 1: start and launch the free partitioning software to get its main window where all disks and partitions are listed:

Erase private information from a hard disk 1

Step 2: select the partition or disk which saves sensitive information and choose a suitable function from the left side. If you are going to erase data saved on a partition, choose Wipe Partition. To erase data on a disk, choose Wipe Disk.

Erase private information from a hard disk 2

Step 3: choose a wiping method by considering actual demands and then click “OK” button. Tip: from the top to the bottom, erasing time increases, but the effect gets better and better.

Erase private information from a hard disk 3

Step 3: click “Apply” button to make all changes performed.

Once the selected disk or partition is wiped, almost all data recovery solutions are useless. Then, you can sell your old hard disk or borrow it to others without worrying privacy leakage. For more details, please see our previous post 3 Ways to Erase Private Data Permanently in Windows.

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