Zero my hard drive

[Boozebeard]

I want to zero my hard drive. Whats the current best tool for doing this?

 

[jbloggs]

You could use the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic utility, I like KillDisk or DBAN is decent...

 

[Yakyb]

right click, format, full format (do it a couple of times if you are still a little paranoid)

 

[Tomsk]

eraser
freeware and a portable app.
Runs in Windows so you can keep using your PC

 

[Dougsnake]

Another shout for eraser great little free program also ccleaner has an option for erasing free space

 

[Boozebeard]

Ok, so I will reformat reinstall windows and then use eraser?

 

[Fire Wizard]

If you would like to completely erase the data on your hard drive, using the Secure Erase command via HDDErase is your best bet. It's certified by the National Security Agency (NSA) and National Institute for Standards and Testing (NIST).

Once you have downloaded HDDErase (Click on the "Download Freeware Secure Erase Utility" link), transfer the program (HDDErase.exe) over to a bootable USB drive. If you haven't currently got a bootable USB drive, if you follow the instruction from this page here, you will have one in about a minute or so. Once you have done this, go into the BIOS and make sure the SATA controller has been set to IDE - Compatible / Legacy mode. Then boot from the USB drive and type "HDDErase" (Without the quotes) and hit enter. It should be rather self-explanatory from then on in.

Ok, so I will reformat reinstall windows and then use eraser?

Personally, I would just use the Secure Erase command to wipe your hard drive and then reinstall Windows. That's all that needs to be done.

 

[AbsenceJam]

If you're going to carry on using the disk with windows then just use ccleaner and check wipe free space.

 

[wilko49]

boot any linux distro, open a terminal, type:

dd if=zero of=/dev/sda conv=notrunc

this will write zeros to the entire drive