How Should I Erase My HDD Before Giving It Away?

⚠️ Erasing your hard drive before giving it away is important. Exactly how thorough an erase the HHD you need depends on your data and level of paranoia.

Erasing a hard disk before disposal
For most situations a simple full, not-quick, format of a traditional hard disk is sufficient. For advanced situations tools like DBan can be used. SSDs should be erased using a utility with the SSD-specific “ATA Secure Erase” command. For the extra paranoid, physical destruction is also an option. What’s not an option is leaving an operating system installed, as that will inevitably leave personal traces as well.

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Chapters
0:00 Erase My HDD Before Giving It Away
0:57 Not an option: Leaving anything
1:36 Basic precaution: Format the HDD
2:39 A safe, practical approach: DBAN
3:41 SSDs are different
5:14 Over the top: Physical destruction
6:12 If you want to leave Windows on the machine…

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