[SOLVED] How do I delete data from hard drive?

[Tereza]

I have a faulty pc which I need to return to the supplier. I can do a factory reset but that won't clear all the data on the hard drive.
What is the best way to clear all the data? Reformat the hard drive? If so, what is the easiest way to do it? Or is this not necessary?
Thanks in advance.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I have a faulty pc which I need to return to the supplier. I can do a factory reset but that won't clear all the data on the hard drive.
What is the best way to clear all the data? Reformat the hard drive? If so, what is the easiest way to do it? Or is this not necessary?
Thanks in advance.

A quick Google for 'wipe hard drive' finds this article from a reliable source:

https://www.pcmag.com/news/352549/how-to-wipe-your-hard-drive

And whether or not it's really necessary depends on what kind of data you might have on it and whether you consider yourself a desirable target. It's not an effortless thing to recover old data from a hard drive and link it up to something useful, so unless it's worth the effort it's not likely anyone would try.

On the other hand...if you saved compromising photos in unencrypted format on the drive it's probably a good idea to wipe.

 

[Tereza]

Thanks that's great.

 

[popatim]

Dban and Killdisk are both free...

 

[Tereza]

Dban and Killdisk are both free...

Dban and Killdisk are both free...

 

[Tereza]

Thanks very useful

 

[RolandJS]

If DBAN encounters any bad sector report from SMART or from HDD's mini-motherboard, it will refuse to run.

 

[popatim]

True
You should/could run a surface scan to test for and remap bad sectors first if you suspect any.
The Command is: chkdsk /r (run in command prompt)