How to Permanently Remove Files from Your Hard Drive
Simply putting files in the trash and emptying it leaves them on your hard drive in a form that is fairly easy to recover. This solution is free, and requires only a bit of time and access to an internet source. Follow some simple steps...
Table of Contents
Method 1 of 1:
With CCleaner
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Download and install CCleaner -
Open the tools menu and select the "Drive Wiper" sub-tab option. -
Select Wipe, select "Entire Drive (All data will be erased) " then Security. Determine how many passes it should take ("7 passes or 35 passes") and the drive you wish to wipe.- The more passes the lower the chance your data will be recoverable. However, more passes may make the process take longer to complete.
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Select Wipe: This process can take anywhere from a few minutes to days, depending on the number of passes and free space to recover. (400GB with 7 passes took me 8 hours)
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