how do i wipe clean a hdd

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drifter109

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Dec 23, 2013
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hi i have 3 hdd's 2 with 160 GB of space and 1 with a terra i spent the last 3 days looking for ways to clean my hdd's but all that i found either would leave the hdd in an unusable state or not wipe completely, i know this is a stupid question but its those simple things that can sometimes be confusing, what i want to do is totally erase the os on these 3 (all 3 have os's 2 with xp and one with windows 7)its got to the point where the hdd's are finally needed in my new build. is there any way i can clear these and be able to use them in my next build
ps: i know 160 gb is nothing for these days but its a hdd lying round and some pictures can be stored on it or something
pss: i already have a home premium so im not buying a new one (well i will be buying a new one but that's another story) will a 64gb flash be enough to install a pirated windows 7 (i will only have it temporarily)
 
Solution
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assuming you are a windows user and don't need DoD level wiping, plug them into your windows machine, open disk management and reformat them.
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ahnilated

ahnilated

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Nov 9, 2006
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If you would like them wiped clean get Derik's boot and nuke (DBAN). You can then wipe them from 1-35 passes and anything above 7 passes you won't recover any data off the HDD's ever.

Secondly even talking about using pirated software is a HUGE no, no on Tom's. It is NOT allowed here at all even if temporarily.
 
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drifter109

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ok and i agree with you i was really hesitating on the pirate and im not going to anymore
 
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Gary Price

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Dod is department of defense. They have high standards of security, DBAN is the only way to go.. and you are installing a pirated version and telling us about it? Why that's not so smart?
1.Do you think Microsoft can see this?
2.Did you know that those pirated versions may contain viruses and they could easily see what your doing? Well maybe...
3. You can run a few commands in the command line to keep renewing a legit copy of windows for up to 120 days...

Formating is not wiping, wiping almost returns your hard drive to near new. There are several layers and even with a DOD wipe you (well most likely not you, but detectives can) will still be able to recover files.
 
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bliq

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All true but for most people's needs, especially where they are not relinquishing ownership of the drive, a reformat is fine. If in the future the HDD was going to be disposed of, then yes, something like using wipe or dban would be in order.
 
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ahnilated

ahnilated

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I agree, I destroy my HDD's, after doing a DBAN 35 pass wipe, with a hammer. If you can then recover the data you deserve to have it. :)
 
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drifter109

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when i said pirate it i just meant for like 2 hrs to see if it all works out well (pirate but have a clean legit copy for install which i brought )
some items and custom apps i made where before meant to be used on Windows 8/8.1 pro but this is not really good for gaming so i changed my mind into windows 7 after doing a little research but someone told me that some parts i am using may not work well with windows 7 so i just wanted to find out if they will and not spend 80 quid doing it anyway thank you for your answer i appreciate it

 
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drifter109

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oww i didn't know about that i only need it for a few hours where do i get this sorry im not informed about this a lot
 
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