Best way to clean Windows PCs to donate them
Best way to clean Windows PCs to donate?
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And don't forget to eject the CD / DVD drive. There's no telling what was left in it.
Best way to make sure all the data is deleted is to use a scrubber software.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-wipe-your-hard-drive shows nice tools.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-wipe-your-hard-drive shows nice tools.
@Jagar:
Will the scrubber software you are recommending do more than diskpart clean all or Active Kill Disk?
Will the scrubber software you are recommending do more than diskpart clean all or Active Kill Disk?
HDD: "diskpart clean all" will do the job. Some scrubber software will claim its better because its overwriting each sector multiple times with random patterns but that's IMHO not neccessary .
SSD: have internally a higher capacity than shown. They distribute data writes to the same block internally to different blocks, which is called "wear-levelling". So simple overwriting all visible blocks may leave some data untouched. This could be retrieved by a forensic analysis.
A special software to wipe SSDs increases data security. SSDs manufactures usually supply a free tool that sends a special command "ATA Secure Erase". See here for more details. https://passivetech.com/2020/03/27/how-to-securely-erase-your-ssd-without-destroying-it/
HTH
SSD: have internally a higher capacity than shown. They distribute data writes to the same block internally to different blocks, which is called "wear-levelling". So simple overwriting all visible blocks may leave some data untouched. This could be retrieved by a forensic analysis.
A special software to wipe SSDs increases data security. SSDs manufactures usually supply a free tool that sends a special command "ATA Secure Erase". See here for more details. https://passivetech.com/2020/03/27/how-to-securely-erase-your-ssd-without-destroying-it/
HTH
ASKER
Thanks all. There are 3 or 4 laptops to be donated Windows 7 and likely 10. Just want to delete all data and donate secure devices without harming the drives or exposing end user information. Hope to return next week to finalize with results. Your insights and expertise is very appreciated.
You will need to format the drive with low level format software
EaseUs has a free one but I haven't used it so not sure how well it works
https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-software/low-level-format-tool.html
It may take hours to wipe a drive with low level format, depending on the hard drive size but that will guarantee that the data will not be recoverable
EaseUs has a free one but I haven't used it so not sure how well it works
https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-software/low-level-format-tool.html
It may take hours to wipe a drive with low level format, depending on the hard drive size but that will guarantee that the data will not be recoverable
Here are some 3rd party tools that you can also use to run a low-level format:
If your Windows 10 systems have bitlocker and SSDs, just delete the partitions, then create a new one. If you haven't been using bitlocker, you should really start.
Do not run standard erasure programs on SSDs, as that does not erase the extra blocks saved for wear leveling, and just wears out your SSD. You need different software for that, as previously pointed out by @Michael Pfister. https://www.diskpart.com/articles/diskpart-clean-all-ssd-7201.html Standard disk erasure programs are for HDs.
Dispart clean all writes zeros on the entire disk and is sufficient for most erasures. No software recovery program will be able to recover it. It's still possible to recover it. You will need to either take apart the disk and put it in a better disk drive that can read more tracks, or update the firmware to move the arm in between the tracks to attempt to read that data.
If you need to prevent someone from spending thousands of dollars to a data recovery service such as DriveSavers, because you have top secret information, then you need to do a DoD wipe. This is unlikely to happen unless you have top secret information or something that someone really wants and is targeting you.
Do not run standard erasure programs on SSDs, as that does not erase the extra blocks saved for wear leveling, and just wears out your SSD. You need different software for that, as previously pointed out by @Michael Pfister. https://www.diskpart.com/articles/diskpart-clean-all-ssd-7201.html Standard disk erasure programs are for HDs.
Dispart clean all writes zeros on the entire disk and is sufficient for most erasures. No software recovery program will be able to recover it. It's still possible to recover it. You will need to either take apart the disk and put it in a better disk drive that can read more tracks, or update the firmware to move the arm in between the tracks to attempt to read that data.
If you need to prevent someone from spending thousands of dollars to a data recovery service such as DriveSavers, because you have top secret information, then you need to do a DoD wipe. This is unlikely to happen unless you have top secret information or something that someone really wants and is targeting you.
@Jagar:
I don't think that any of those solutions actually perform a low-level format. They are just overwriting the drive with data.
I don't think that any of those solutions actually perform a low-level format. They are just overwriting the drive with data.
Low-level formatting I/M/O is overkill for the end in view. It can take up to 24 hours for a low-level format, but a one-pass zero write can usually be done in less than one hour.
ASKER
I'll be getting the laptops this weekend and finalize this. grateful for your help. Just want a safe easy fix.
ASKER
what will these donated laptops be in terms of useful devices if any of these devices are given to kids? what will they need to get them useful after using any of these tools?
Can't speculate on how useful they will be without knowing the specs.
To get them useful, someone will have to install Windows and any applications that are needed.
To get them useful, someone will have to install Windows and any applications that are needed.
Or install some Linux Distribution...
@serialband
Good point, I was being presumptuous about Windows. I should have said "someone will have to install an OS and....".
Good point, I was being presumptuous about Windows. I should have said "someone will have to install an OS and....".
It just depends on the system specs.