3 Easy Ways to Erase Hard Drive in Windows 10/11

Why Erase Hard Drive in Windows 10 Computer?

There is a chance that you might have to wipe a hard drive due to different reasons, like for sale, donation, or just for reuse, etc. No matter what the reasons, there are some important things you should focus on, which will help you protect your data well and prevent others from restoring your personal data as well.

Before erasing hard drive in your computer, you have to ensure you have backed up the critical data on your current computer to external hard drive, or cloud storage. Until then, you can restore data to other locations easily.

Backup Your Important Files Beforehand

In general, if you have an external hard drive or other devices, like a USB drive, NAS device, and so on, you could backup all crucial data on the hard drive to these storage devices. However, if you don’t have an extra hard drive to save the backup of the hard drive, you could backup files to the cloud drives. Compared with the local hard disk, cloud storage has its advantages, like easy to access anytime as long as there is an internet connection.

Here we will show you how to backup to cloud stroage for free with a professional cloud backup service. CBackup is such a free cloud backup service, which allows you to backup local computer files to mainstream clouds, like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. And your hard drive data will be protected with strong technology support.

Now, let’s get started to backup hard drive to Google Drive for example with CBackup:

1. Please download and install the CBackup desktop app, then apply for a free CBackup account, then log into it.

2. Click Storage > choose Google Drive, and click Authorize Now to allow CBackup can access Google Drive files. Then complete the Google Drive info on CBackup.

3. Tap the Backup > Backup PC to Public Cloud, then you could choose files and folders on your hard drive that are going to be erased.

4. Select Google Drive as the backup destination. Press the Start Backup button to backup hard drive to Google Drive easily.

How to Erase Hard Drive in Windows 10? 3 Easy Ways

After backing up files, now you could wipe hard drive without worry. The first thing you might think is to format the hard drive, however, this way is not the best one, because the data will be recovered probably. So, we will provide you 3 solutions to permanently wipe disk in Windows 11/10 easily.

Way 1. Wipe hard drive with Reset this PC

To securely erase hard drive for sale or donate, it’s highly recommended to reset your computer to factory settings, which is a free disk eraser in Windows 10/11. This way will reset your computer with move everything or keep your files, then reinstall your Windows.

Here is how to reset the computer in Windows 11/10:

1. Please go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery, then tap the Get started button under Reset this PC.

2. It will ask you to Keep my files or Remove Everything, here we choose Remove Everything.

3. wait for a while, it will show you like this, then click Change settings.

4. Turn on Data erasure option, and click Confirm > Next.

5. Now, click the Reset button to erase everything on your hard drive without deleting Windows 10.

Way 2. Wipe Disk with AOMEI Backupper

If you want a stronger erase way, please try the AOMEI Backupper Server, it not only erases the data disk but also the bootable system disk, even you could erase multiple hard drives at the same time. And most importantly, it offers you more powerful wipe options, like fill sectors with zero, file sectors with random data, DoD 5220.22-M and Gutmann. Once you wiped the disk, all the data won’t be recovered due to the strong erase way.

Now, we will show you how to erase hard drive stronger, the detailed steps are listed below:

1. Please download the AOMEI Backupper Server trial, and demonstrate the process.

2. Connect your hard drive to the computer if it’s an external hard drive, then run AOMEI Backupper, click Tools > Disk Wipe.

3. Select the Wipe Disk option under the Wiping Type section, and hit Next >>.

4. Pitch on the hard drive you want to erase, and press the Next >> button.

5. Choose Wiping Method according to your needs, and click Start.

Besides, if you would like to wipe your system disk, please create a bootable media, then boot your computer with the bootable media, then secure erase hard drive in Windows 10 or 11.

Way 3. Wipe Windows 10 Hard Drive via the Command line

Apart from the above 2 ways, there is still a way for you to clean everything from your hard drive, that’s using the diskpart command line.

If you’re going to completely wipe hard drive in Windows 10, please follow the steps below:

1. Please type cmd in the Windows search box, then right-click Command Prompt, and choose Run as administrator.

2. Run the following commands one by one:

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk 2 (Replace the 2 with the disk number of the hard drive that you want to erase)
• clean all

If you want to erase a system hard disk, please go to the Windows recovery environment to wipe and it will delete Windows 10 from the hard drive.

The End

Now, you have mastered the solutions to erase hard drive in Windows 10 computer. Before wiping your hard drive, please backup important files on your hard drive, because your data could not be recovered once the data is erased permanently. Just find the best way to clear hard drive in Windows 10/11.