Formatting your hard drive safely: How to protect your data

Especially if you sell your hard drive and there is sensitive data on it, you should format the hard drive securely. Simply deleting the files or formatting them in Disk Management is not enough. It is best to use an extra tool for secure hard disk cleanup.

Securely format Windows hard drive: How to permanently erase data

Simply formatting is not enough to securely erase data from the hard drive in Windows. Only the real deletion and rewriting of the files ensures that the contents can no longer be recovered.

1. A useful tool for this process is, for example, the CCleaner. It can be used to wipe the hard drive. So that the original data is no longer readable, the program then overwrites the hard disk with random number sequences. Note, however, that the boot drive can not be deleted with it.
2. If you want to delete the boot drive itself, install, for example, the tool CBL data shredder. Select the DOS variant, which can be copied to an external data carrier.

Note: An SSD is best not deleted with a hard disk tool, but with the "ATA Seucre Erase" command. Depending on the manufacturer, the SSD is managed differently.

Format hard drive securely with Mac OS

In Mac OS, however, you can format the hard drive securely using on-board tools. To do this, first launch Disk Utility via the Spotlight search. There, select the hard drive you want to erase, click "Erase" and slide the displayed slider all the way to the right to securely erase your hard drive. Confirm the settings with "OK" and start the formatting with a click on "Erase".