what should i do before wiping my hard drive so i can reinstall windows 8.1

[smokinbunny79]

I am going to wipe my hard drive using a DOD approved software, WipeDrive. When finished I want nothing on the pc except my OS back the way it was when I purchased it, all personal information and traces gone. How do I accomplish this?

 

[Paul NZ]

Reinstall Windows after I suppose

 

[Enderegg]

There is some software you can use to write and rewrite on the free space. Something will ALWAYS be there, unless it's new. And even after using that special software, if you intend to sell that, I wouldn't if you had important files there.

 

[DeauteratedDog]

I can't think of what Enderegg is referring to - that kind wipe software usually blanks every block on the drive - maybe bad sectors get skipped, but it probably tries to re-write those too.

 

[Enderegg]

Assuming OP is talking about an HDD, the files are never deleted. They are kept, but it's seen as empty. Then you can rewrite. That's why there is also software where you can get deleted files back. If it's an SSD a normal format will do, since here the data is actually deleted

 

[DeauteratedDog]

Assuming OP is talking about an HDD, the files are never deleted. They are kept, but it's seen as empty. Then you can rewrite. That's why there is also software where you can get deleted files back. If it's an SSD a normal format will do, since here the data is actually deleted

Ah, that's true for normal deletion and even formatting, but the wipe software that the OP is referring to actually steps through EVERY block on the HDD, and wipes it - it totally ignores any file system information and just steps through block by block. You end up with a completely blank drive. They usually even write to every block several times with different ramdom-ish data to make sure whatever was there is gone gone gone. Takes for freaking ever to run.

 

[smokinbunny79]

Yes this software as I am told by several people who have used it wiped everything, this is not just your normal reset. I just wanted to know after my hard drive is wiped clean do I just put my USB Recovery into the computer and load the os?

 

[DeauteratedDog]

Yes this software as I am told by several people who have used it wiped everything, this is not just your normal reset. I just wanted to know after my hard drive is wiped clean do I just put my USB Recovery into the computer and load the os?

Yes, just like installing on a brand new hard drive - the installer will create a new boot record and partition table and then load up the OS.

Of course, make sure you have all the drivers handy (usually available on the manufacturers web site).