how to erase external hard drive to stock windows

Full Answer

How to wipe external hard drive without losing data?

Right click the external HDD at main interface and select “Wipe Hard Drive” from the given list. Step 2. In the pop-up small window, choose a wiping method, and hit "OK" Step 3.

How do I remove an external hard drive from my computer?

Connect your external hard drive. 3. Open KillDisk. 4. Select your external hard drive from the list of connected hard drives. 5. Click Erase Disk at the top of the app. 6. Click Start. 7. Cllick Ok. Did this summary help you? Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 364,388 times. "My PC wasn't starting.

How to permanently delete files on a hard drive?

An Eraser option also appears when you right-click on a file in Windows Explorer, allowing you to permanently delete files quickly and easily. Eraser has a ton of advanced scheduling and file options if you want to securely wipe specific files or sectors of your hard drive on a regular basis.

How do I recover data from an external hard drive?

Steps Back up any important data on the hard drive. Format the external hard drive. Run a disk cleaning application on the external hard drive. Physically destroy the hard drive.

Can an external hard drive be erased and reused?

Yes. Wiping a hard drive essentially means that data is removed and is completely unretrievable. This can be done in such a way that the hard drive can still be reused.

How do I restore my external hard drive to factory settings?

Plug in the drive and open Windows Explorer. Right-click the drive and choose Format from the drop-down menu. Select the file system you want, give your drive a name under “Volume label,” and make sure the Quick Format box is checked. Click Start, and the computer will reformat your drive.

How do I wipe and format an external hard drive in Windows?

PC InstructionsSelect the drive you wish to format from the list.Right click on the drive and select Format.Enter a name for the drive in Volume label and select the format type in the File system dropdown box.Click OK. It will take a short while to delete all the files and change the format of the disk.

How do I completely wipe my external hard drive?

Go to Applications, select Utilities, and double-click on Disk Utility. In the sidebar, click on the USB drive you want to format and then choose Erase from the top toolbar. In the drop-down window, under Name, type a name for the drive. Choose a format option.

How do I wipe my Seagate external hard drive Windows 10?

In the main interface, find out the Seagate external HDD, right-click it and choose “Wipe Hard Drive”. Step 3. In the small pop-up window, choose one wiping method (here I choose Fill sectors with random data). Then click “OK”.

How do I reset my Seagate external hard drive to factory settings Windows?

Reset using the Seagate Central AssistantLog in with your credentials.Select the Settings tab.Select the Restore button. This will restore the device settings to default values.Proceed with initial setup.

Does formatting external hard drive delete everything?

Does formatting a hard drive erase everything on it? The answer is no. Formatting does not erase data on the disk, which only makes file recovery much more difficult.

How do I delete all partitions on my external hard drive?

In Windows 10, you can easily open the Disk Management console by right-clicking Start button and choose "Disk Management option from the Start menu". In Disk Management, locate the external hard disk and the partition you want to remove. Right-click on the partition and select Delete Volume from the context menu.

What happens if you wipe a hard drive?

However, if you wipe a hard drive too frequently, it will increase the workload of the hard disk. If it's a solid-state drive, you should do as little as possible to reduce unnecessary reads and writes.

How to wipe a hard drive with DiskGenius?

Step 1. Download and run DiskGenius Free Edition. Step 2. Select external hard drive you want to wipe, and then click the menu item "Tools" > "Erase Sectors", as shown in the figure below. Step 3. The following dialog box pops up.

What is sector in a file?

The sector is the place where the data is recorded, and it is the lowest level of the data. Our general deletion operation just cuts off the pointing of the file, so we can not access the data. In fact, the data still exists, while erasing the sector is really clearing the data, so it is completely lost. Like a book, if you tear out the table of contents, the body of the book is still there, so you can find out the contents of the book, but if you tear out the body of the book, it's gone forever.

Is it safe to wipe an external hard drive?

The method of erasing data is basically to write zero or random characters to all the storage sectors in the area that needs to be erased, to achieve the purpose of overwriting all data and preventing files from being recovered by any data recovery tools. The hard drive wiping process just involves normal writing operations, so it is safe to wipe an external hard drive with DiskGenius.

Can you burn an external hard drive?

By physically destroying the hard drive, no one can use it to extract your data. There are many ways to physically destroy an external hard drive. You can simply melt it. Burning it is another safe option. If you want to go to extremes, then you can simply hammer the hard drive and break it into pieces.

Does DiskGenius erase data?

Using DiskGenius to erase data from your external hard drive will not damage it . The principle of erasing sector data is to overwrite disk space with zero or random characters sector by sector, so that lost files cannot be recovered. It works like average disk writing actions, so it does not damage the disk.

How to erase a hard drive?

Wait for a while as your system will automatically recognize the drive. Step 3: Select the external hard drive and click "Erase Now" to start to erase files from external hard drive. Step 4: Wait for a while as the application would permanently erase your external hard drive.

How to destroy an external hard drive?

There are plenty of ways to physically destroy an external hard drive. After removing the case of the hard drive, you can simply melt it. Setting it on fire is another safe option. If you want to go extreme, then you can simply hammer the hard drive and break it into pieces.

What is the best tool to erase data from external hard drive?

Stellar BitRaser for the file is one of the best eraser tools out there that can readily be used to wipe your hard drive’s data entirely without any scope of recovery. Simply perform a deep cleaning of your external hard drive using this remarkable application and be sure to get rid of your data forever. It has an easy to use interface and comes with tons of features as well.

Can you physically damage an external hard drive?

Try not to physically damage your external hard drive, as this would make it inaccessible and might cause some accidents as well. Go with a tool that will erase log files, system traces, and application traces as well for a complete deletion of data.

How long does it take for an external hard drive to be erased?

This acknowledges the warning and formats your drive. It may take several minutes depending on your computer hardware and the size of your external hard drive.

How to eject a flash drive?

Click the Eject button next to your external hard drive. When you are finished with your external hard drive. Click the eject button next to your hard drive name in the sidebar to the left in Disk Utility. Do not remove your flash drive until it is completely ejected.

How to connect external hard drive to computer?

Connect your external hard drive to your computer. Most external hard drives can be connected to your computer using a USB or firewire cable. In some cases, an external hard drive may need to be plugged in using an AC adapter.

What is a wiping hard drive?

Wiping (also called formatting) a hard drive is a good way to start fresh as well as clear data before selling it to a stranger. Formatting the drive also allows you to switch to a different file system type when needed. This wikiHow teaches you how to format an external hard drive using Windows and macOS. Steps.

How to clean external hard drive in Windows 7?

On Windows 7, open the Start menu and search for cmd. Right-click the "Command Prompt" shortcut that appears and then choose "Run as Administrator". Step 2. Use the Diskpart command to clean the external hard drive. In the CMD window, type the following commands in order and press Enter after each one: diskpart.

How to permanently delete data without recovery?

Wiping or erasing a hard drive is an effective way to permanently delete data without recovery. Although Windows doesn't offer a tool that can scan and wipe your external hard drive, there are still some methods you can choose to make it. Method 1. Wipe External Hard Drive with a Windows 10 Data Wiping Tool.

Can you wipe external hard drives in CMD?

You can also use wipe external hard drives in CMD if you are a computer expert. For beginners, we still strongly recommend that you use a user-friendly data wipe tool to complete the work.

What You Need to Know

It’s often possible to recover deleted files from a drive. Whether this is possible depends on a number of factors.

Option 1: Wipe Any Entire Drive

To write zeros over the contents of any drive, all you have to do is perform a full format of the drive. Before you do this, bear in mind that this will completely erase all files on the drive. Also, you can’t perform a full format of your Windows system drive while you’re running Windows from it.

Option 2: Wipe Only Free Space

If you’ve deleted some files from a mechanical hard drive or an external storage device, you might want to wipe only the free space, overwriting it with zeros. This will ensure those deleted files can’t easily be recovered without wiping the entire drive.

Option 3: Wipe Your Windows System Drive

If you want to wipe your entire Windows operating system drive, there’s an easy way to do it. This option is built into the Reset This PC feature on Windows 10 and Windows 11, although it isn’t enabled by default.

Before you begin

Back up your data! Once these programs get to work, you can’t go back for a forgotten file. This is a one-way street to data oblivion. Also if you’re erasing the drive on a laptop, be sure to plug the notebook in before you start. If the battery gets spent and the power goes out in the middle of a disk wipe it could spell disaster for the drive.

Securely erase specific files with Eraser

If you need to delete only specific files and folders rather than entire drives, the open-source Eraser is the tool for you. Just boot up the program, click the arrow next to the ‘Erase Schedule’ option at the top of the screen, and select New task. From there, a window pops up with the task and time-scheduling options.

Securely erase your USB flash drive

Did you think using Erase was simple? Roadkil’s Disk Wipe is even easier, and it works just fine on USB flash drives as well as traditional hard drives. Simply download, unzip, and boot the itty-bitty application, and then select a drive and type in the number of passes you’d like the program to make. (Again, we suggest at least three.)

Securely erase a mechanical hard drive with DBAN

A note on whole-disk wiping software: Wiping entire drives requires slightly more complicated solutions than the easy-to-use apps mentioned previously.

Securely erase a hybrid drive or SSD with Secure Erase or Parted Magic

Wiping data off of an SSD is a little different than erasing data from a HDD thanks to the wear-leveling algorithms used to write data evenly to an SSD.