How to Delete All Data on a Computer

Want to wipe your hard drive?

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Deleting information from your computer is easy if you don't mind deleting everything. This is not recommended unless you are really planning on reinstalling windows and starting from scratch!

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

A computer
A CD-R
A CD burner

Step1

Download a program called Secure Erase from the internet and save it to a floppy disk or CD-R. You may need to unzip the file first.

Step2

Access BIOS during the boot stage before the computer gets to the OS screen. This can be accomplished by pressing whatever key the computer tells you to when it says ""Press F2 to enter start-up", for example.

Step3

Change the boot order so that the computer boots from either the CD drive or floppy drive, depending on which drive you used for your Secure Erase program.

Step4

Exit BIOS. The DOS prompt should appear once the computer has started up.

Step5

At the system/DOS prompt type: "hdderase" to start the program. The Secure Erase menu should appear. Choose from Secure Erase or Enhanced Secure Erase if the option appears.

Tips & Warnings

This will only work on computers built in 2001 or after.
Do not do this unless you are absolutely sure that you want to erase your data.

Comments

chintan said

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on 3/8/2008 i think this is a genius topic in the world, and u explain very well. i prude of u

dweaver said

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on 12/7/2007 It's easiest to use your plain old windows tools to format a drive for reinstall. If you want to COMPLETELY destroy the data, this and similar programs are best. DODWipe is another great tool as well.