Help me with securely erasing my drives

[Deleted member 2111113]

Hi there,

I am going to sell my computer and am afraid that people can recover my data. I have advertised my computer as including windows 10.

So i need to securely wipe my HDD and SSD and also keep windows.

What is the best way to wipe a drive so that there is no way that someone can recover my data? and so that windows is still on there.


thanks.

 

[COLGeek]

Yes, you can secure wipe the SSD and use a tool like DBAN to wipe the HDD. You would then need to reinstall the OS to the SSD (with the HDD disconnected). After Win 10 is re-installed, you can reconnect the HDD and add it like a new HDD to the system.

 

[J_E_D_70]

You could also go to Settings > Update & security > Reset this PC > Get started and select Remove Everything. After that, you can download the free Ccleaner and run a couple or three drive wipes under the Tools option.

 

[Deleted member 2111113]

You could also go to Settings > Update & security > Reset this PC > Get started and select Remove Everything. After that, you can download the free Ccleaner and run a couple or three drive wipes under the Tools option.

will ccleaner securely wipe the drive so that people can't hack it and retrieve the data, and would dban also do this? I hear that dban can't work on SSDs, can the ccleaner wiper?

 

[J_E_D_70]

Not sure how ccleaner and dban compare. Dban is probably the most thorough, no clue about using on ssd. I'd go with the Colonel and secure erase ssd with the software that comes with it. Latest I read is that a single pass on modern 1TB and larger drives is enough.