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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...

★ Distinguish Delete and Erase, wipe and shred
★ How to Wipe Clean a Computer and Start Over
Method 1 of 1:

With CCleaner

  1. How to Permanently Remove Files from Your Hard Drive Picture 1
    Download and install CCleaner
  2. How to Permanently Remove Files from Your Hard Drive Picture 2
    Open the tools menu and select the "Drive Wiper" sub-tab option.
  3. How to Permanently Remove Files from Your Hard Drive Picture 3
    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.
  4. How to Permanently Remove Files from Your Hard Drive Picture 4
    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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David Pac

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David Pac
Update 05 March 2020

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