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But if you just want to get rid of old data and start anew with a fresh amount of storage you can easily wipe your hard drive clean. If you have a growing pile of old external hard drives in your closet, it’s probably time to invest in a proper hard drive storage solution or just get rid of them entirely. Whether it’s throwing the drive into a fire pit, soaking it in diluted hydrochloric acid, or simply smashing it with a sledge hammer – your efforts can definitely be better spent wiping and disposing of your old external hard drive the right way.
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People do some pretty crazy things to get rid of old data and dispose of old, dead hard drives. If you have an older copy of Windows or if you like to get into the weeds with different file-deletion methods, a third-party tool like Dban is your best option.Get rid of your old external hard drive the right way. The following directions for wiping a computer will work with any system running Windows 10, as well as most Macs. The entry typically says “solid state” or “flash storage” for a solid-state drive (SSD), whereas for a mechanical hard drive it says “hard disk drive.” On a Mac, click the Apple logo and then About this Mac, and select the Storage tab. On Windows, this information is harder to find than it should be, but the easiest way is to open the Defragment and Optimize Drives tool (type “defragment” into the search menu in the taskbar). Next, figure out which type of storage your computer has.
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For Macs, Apple recommends logging out of any iCloud services, including iTunes and iMessages. How you do this depends on which operating system you have and what type of storage drive your device has.īefore you wipe a computer, make sure that you have a backup of any files you need and deactivate any software that requires doing so.
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On most devices, wiping your data securely is pretty straightforward, and doing so can prevent your data from being recovered by someone you would rather not have it. Your computer, phone, or tablet holds all kinds of personal information about you, and before you sell, return, recycle, or donate it, you should make sure to delete all of that information correctly.
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