How to Wipe a Hard Drive for Free
There are quite a few programs that can completely wipe a hard drive. Many of them are commercial programs that vary widely in cost. Some of them are freeware, and a few are open-source programs whose source code is freely available. They all do the same thing, which is to write a zero to each bit on a hard drive, erasing all data beyond any hope of recovery. One of these is an open-source program known as DBAN.
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Instructions
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Creating the Bootable Disk
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1
Go to "www.dban.org" to download a copy of DBAN.
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Use your favorite image-burning software to burn the "iso" image that you downloaded to the CD-R.
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3
Shut down your computer.
Wiping the Drive
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Disconnect any hard drives that you do NOT want to wipe.
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Connect the hard drive that you do want to wipe to the machine. If it is already present, simply leave it connected.
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Turn on the computer.
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Insert the DBAN disk that you made into the CD drive on your computer.
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Once the disk has booted up, type in the word "autonuke" at the prompt. This will wipe every hard drive still attached to the machine.
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Wait for the process to finish. This may take several hours, depending on the size of the drives involved.
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Once the process has finished, shut down the machine.
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Remove the wiped drive, and reattach the drives that you regularly use (if any.)
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Tips & Warnings
If you want some more granularity, you can also use DBAN's user interface mode, allowing you to pick specific disk-wiping methods, as well as choosing which hard drive you want to wipe. You should still disconnect any drives you don't want to wipe.
As an alternative to DBAN, you could also use your hard drive manufacturer's software to run a low-level format. It isn't quite as secure, but it will prevent recovery of data by anyone but a data-recovery laboratory.
When you're using the "autonuke" method, it is vital that you disconnect any drives you do not want to wipe. Anything that is connected will be overwritten.
