How To Delete Everything Except Windows

Are you selling or giving abroad your calculator? You may have erased your private data by deleting files and reinstalling Windows, but you're not quite done withal. The last action you lot demand to take before saying goodbye to your old friend is wipe the hard drive make clean.

Well-nigh computers now come with solid-state drives (SSDs), which are faster than their mechanical counterparts but can be trickier to wipe. Simply deleting your files doesn't do the flim-flam since they can exist restored from the Recycle Bin. And even if you empty the Bin, your deleted files tin often be recovered with the right utility.

Regardless of what version of Windows you lot are running, you can reset the OS to factory weather using built-in reset features. However, a adept hard drive eraser utility will be needed if you want a stronger and more than secure method of wiping your bulldoze.

Wipe Your Bulldoze in Windows 10

In Windows ten, open Settings > Update & security > Recovery, and so click the Get Started push button. When asked what you want to erase, select Remove everything. Choose the Local reinstall option to reinstall Windows from your computer.

Click Change Settings and turn on the switch next to Wipe the drive. Click Confirm, then Side by side, and finally click Reset to start the procedure.

Subsequently the drive is wiped and Windows is reinstalled, you tin can then go through the initial setup procedure. When finished, your PC is rebooted, placing you at the Windows setup screen. If you plan to go along the computer, you can become through the setup process once again. If you plan to get rid of the PC, just close information technology down.

Wipe Your Drive in Windows 11

If you've updated to Windows 11, the process is largely the same as it is in Windows 10, with a few tweaks. Open Settings > System > Recovery and click Reset PC.

When prompted, choose Remove everything, only like in Windows x. Cull Local reinstall to reinstall Windows from this device, since it will run faster than the deject download. If that doesn't piece of work, choose Deject download.

From the Additional settings window, click the Modify settings link and enable the switch for Clean data, and then click Ostend. Click Adjacent to start the procedure, then click the Reset button.

Your calculator then goes through the reset process whereby your drive is wiped and Windows is reinstalled. You can set up upwards Windows again if y'all plan to keep the estimator, otherwise information technology's safe to shut it downwardly now.

Wipe Your Drive in Windows eight.1

Still on Windows eight.ane? Go to Settings > Alter PC Settings > Update and recovery > Recovery. Click Get Started under the Remove everything and reinstall Windows section.

Click Next, then cull Fully clean the drive to ensure everything is deleted. Click the Reset push and your drive is wiped, your PC is reset, and Windows is reinstalled. After your PC reboots, you're placed at the Windows setup screen where you can go through the setup procedure once again if y'all plan to keep the PC. Otherwise, shut it off now.

Wipe Your Bulldoze in Windows 7

Windows 7 users won't find the aforementioned reset tool that newer versions have, only you tin still bring your hard drive back to factory settings under the right conditions. To make the process become smoother, you'll need either a recovery sectionalisation or the Windows 7 installation disc.

Open Command Panel, cull Recovery, and then click the Advanced recovery methods link. Note that if your PC doesn't have a recovery partition so you may receive an error here, preventing you from moving forrad.

Yous will and then be presented with several dissimilar options on how you wish to reinstall Windows 7. Subsequently making your choices, cull Skip when asked to back up your files, then click Restart.

Windows then restarts. Depending on the option you lot chose, you can now reinstall and set up up Windows 7, thereby wiping out the previous installation.

3rd-Party Disk Utilities

Wiping your hard bulldoze from within the operating system is a quick and convenient method, simply a 3rd-party utility can provide greater security and protection.

Recommended by Our Editors

For those who are wiping a mechanical hard bulldoze, make certain y'all choose a utility that meets the DoD 5220.22-M standard. This means the utility will fully wipe your drive by overwriting your information three times with unlike characters.

Disk Wipe

Disk Wipe is a free portable erasure utility that runs from a USB drive and wipes your Windows boot drive. Simply download and run the DiskWipe.exe file on your PC, or create a bootable surround on your USB flash drive and run Disk Wipe from in that location.

Its unproblematic interface displays your drives and partitions. Select the one you want to erase and click Wipe Disk. The plan asks how you want to reformat the drive—NTFS, FAT, or FAT32. Yous then choose the blazon of erasing pattern and the number of passes. Options include I Pass Zeros, 1 Laissez passer Random, or U.s. Department of Defence force DoD. By and large, the more passes you choose, the longer the process but the more secure the erasure.

Active KillDisk Freeware

Active KillDisk Freeware is a more express version of the $40 KillDisk Professional for Windows, only it is yet a capable and constructive tool. Y'all tin can easily create bootable disk wipe media on a DVD or USB drive or set upwards an ISO file. You then apply that media to boot upward your Windows PC, where y'all tin wipe the master drive.

The programme provides a graphical carte showing your various drives. Select the drive you want to erase and click the Erase Disk icon. KillDisk offers a range of erasure methods, including those from the DoD, U.s. Army, British government, and NIST.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard

The complimentary AOMEI Sectionalization Assistant Standard is a deejay partitioning and management tool that lets you easily wipe your difficult drive. The plan helps you create a portable version that you can run from a USB drive as well equally bootable media to burn down to a CD/DVD, copy to a USB stick, or save equally an ISO file.

From the main interface, select the drive or sectionalisation you want to erase and then click the Wipe Disk icon. The only drawback with the free version is that it limits y'all to just ane erasure method, namely filling the sectors with zeros. To apply a more avant-garde method, yous'll have to upgrade to the $49.95 AOMEI Division Assistant Pro product.

Like What You're Reading?

Sign upward for Tips & Tricks newsletter for proficient advice to get the most out of your engineering.

This newsletter may contain advertizement, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Utilize and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at whatever time.