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How to Completely Wipe An External Hard Drive For Safety Purpose?

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Published By Jamie Kaler 
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Approved By Rollins Duke
Published On May 17th, 2024
Reading Time 5 Min Read

Introduction: In this blog post, you will learn how to completely wipe an external Hard Drive to make them look like new again.

Do you require to free up space on an external storage device or do you wish to wipe any sensitive data? Perhaps you’re removing an item from your collection, selling it, or just lending it out. In any of these scenarios, you may need to guarantee that sensitive data is entirely erase and unrecoverable.

Our papers, photos, films, and other personal files are stored on an external hard drive. They are vital storage locations for a variety of our personal and professional information. Many individuals, in fact, utilize an external hard drive as a backup storage device for their computers. Nonetheless, the data on the external hard drive may need to be completely deleted. Let’s look at why.

What is the Purpose of Wiping An External Hard Drive?

  • Concerns about data privacy: When you are ready to destroy, sell, or swap your storage media, you must first wipe its contents permanently. This is true for both functioning hard disks and those nearing the end of their useful life. Erasing the contents of your user hard disk ensures that it is not used in an unlawful manner.
  • Corruption: Occasionally, your hard drive’s data may become corrupted as a result of a virus or malware assault. To completely eradicate the infection, it is necessary to wipe the disk clean.
  • You want to sell your drive: If you are planning to sell your external hard drive, it is critical that you clean it first before doing so. Everything that can’t be restore will be delete if you wipe your external Hard Drive.

A file is not erased simply by “deleting” it

When files are deleted from drives, the data is not truly deleted. Because the space it occupies is simply designated as available, third-party data recovery software is frequently able to retrieve the ostensibly “lost” data.

There are two strong reasons why removing a file does not totally remove it:

So that you can retrieve a file that you accidentally erased

To optimize system speed — deleting a single file entry is faster and more efficient than deleting the entire file.

It is, however, risky for people

If you are planning to sell your external hard drive, be sure it has been entirely wipe before you do so. If you don’t do this, anyone may recover your data using the best data recovery tool and utilize it for their own purposes.

How to Completely Wipe An External Hard Drive?

To completely wipe data from an external storage device, you can use the formatting tool included with Windows. This conducts a write-zero pass, in which the storage area is completely filled with zeros. This may be acceptable for some purposes, and we’ll demonstrate how to do so below. It is not, however, a fail-safe approach, as certain programs are intend to bypass a write-zero pass.

As a result, it is recommended that you utilize any expert program. One of them is Disk Wipe Software. This program enables the user to fully erase an external Hard Drive. Additionally, you do not need to be concerned about the security of your data after utilizing this incredible program. It is the best tool to resolve how to wipe external Hard Drive query.

Also, the software has a simple and intuitive interface. Any type of users (technical and Non-Technical) can use it without facing hassle. It comes with a plethora of advanced capabilities for wiping your external hard drive. So go ahead and download the application and take use of its advantages.

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Have a Look at the Key Features of the Software

  • Completely wipe your External Hard Drive in batch without facing hassle.
  • Advanced Filter Wiping options are available to help users to save Disk Space.
  • The application allows wipe files / folders from external Hard Drive as per the need.
  • Also, it has the ability to completely wipe the external Hard Drive in a few moments.
  • The program includes options for wiping data from external hard drives that cannot be retrieve.
  • You can download and run this software on all the editions of Windows Operating system.
  • Also, the app offers dual mode feature to wipe your external Hard Drive files / folders.

The Conclusion

Our external hard drives are critical components of our information infrastructure. They store a great deal of our private information, and for many people, they serve as the primary source of backup for their PC. For any reason, if you are thinking to sell your external Hard Drive, so wipe it first. In the above guide, we captured how to completely wipe an external Hard Drive. You can use the method to get this task done.

Also Read: How to Wipe Windows 11 Computer Data?