How do you securely erase an old computer, so that it’s safe to get rid of?
In this video I’ll show you how to make a USB stick that lets you wipe your old hard
drive, making it practically impossible for anyone to recover your private data from it.
We’re going to look at Windows 7 and older computers, and we’re going to do this using
only free software. Let’s find out how.
This is Dave’s Tech Rescue, where I solve your problems with computers, Internet and
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Today’s question:
I have an old computer that I want to dispose of, but my data is still on the hard drive.
How can I securely wipe the computer?
Well this is a question I get asked all the time, because these days we’re all well
aware of what can happen if our personal data falls into the wrong hands.
When you buy a new computer now with Windows 10, it comes with all the tools you’ll need
later on to securely erase your data. But if you have an older computer, running Windows
7 or something older, you’re going to need to find a program to wipe your data.
I’m going to show you how to prepare a memory stick with a program called DBAN, which stands
for Darik’s Boot and Nuke. This program will overwrite all the data on your hard drive
with a random stream of data, making it virtually impossible for anyone to recover anything
from the drive.
So we’ll be downloading DBAN, and we’ll also be downloading a tool called Rufus which
helps us prepare the USB drive. Both of these tools are available for free from the Internet.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
You’re going to need a memory stick, an Internet connection and a working computer
- in this video I’m going to prepare my memory stick using my Windows computer.
You don’t need a very large memory stick - it’s only going to take up about 100 megabytes,
which is tiny.
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR USB DRIVE
To start with, plug in your memory stick.
Open your web browser and go to dban.org
Click Download Dban and wait for it to download. I just need to click Save - it doesn't take
long.
Now you need to go to a different website - rufus.ie . Rufus is the tool that's going
to take DBAN, put it on to your memory stick, and make sure the memory stick is bootable.
Bootable means that when you turn on the computer, the memory stick has the power to take control
of what happens.
So on the Rufus website, look for the Download section and click on the first link to download
Rufus. This time I'm going to click Run.
Rufus is also a really quick download, and once it's downloaded, it will run.
This is Rufus. Don't worry about all these settings, we'll leave most of them alone.
You just need to look for Device, and click on the drop-down menu. You should see your
USB stick here, so click on it. Make sure this is definitely the right USB drive, because
this is going to get wiped when we go ahead shortly.
Now look for Boot Selection, And choose Disk or ISO image. Click the SELECT button, and
now you need to find the DBAN file you downloaded. I know mine is going to be in my Downloads
folder.
Find the DBAN file, and click Open.
Now you can leave all the other options as they are, and click START.
You'll get a message warning you that all the data on your USB drive will be destroyed,
so as long you're happy with that, click OK.
Now you need to wait a short while, and when this box says READY, you can click CLOSE.
And you can eject the memory stick, then unplug it.
HOW TO WIPE YOUR OLD COMPUTER
Now we’re going to move over to the computer we want to securely wipe.
Plug in the USB stick, and turn on the computer. You’ll need to get the computer to boot
from the USB drive. All computers are different, so check the instructions for your computer,
or search the Internet for help.
Once you’ve booted from the USB drive, you will see Darik's Boot and Nuke. Read this
screen carefully because it will destroy all the data on the computer.
Press the Enter key now.
Wait for the program to start. You might see some errors while it's starting up, but you
can probably ignore them.
When DBAN starts, you'll see a screen like this, with a list of all the drives in your
computer. You can normally work out which drive is which by looking at the names, or
by looking at the capacity of each drive in megabytes or gigabytes.
I've worked out that the drive I want to erase is on the third line, so I need to move down
to this line using my arrow keys. Now I need to press the Space Bar to select it.
Now look up here in the top left of the screen. These are the options for the type of wipe
the program will do. You can probably leave these options as they are, but the one thing
you might want to change is the Method.
It's currently set to DoD Short - DoD stands for the American Department of Defense, so
if it's good enough for them it's probably OK for us. Let's have a look at the other
options - press the M key.
You can scroll through these options and read a bit about them. Feel free to do your research
and decide which one satisfies your needs, but as a general rule, the number of passes
describes how many times the wipe is repeated, so a higher number is more secure.
I'm going to stick with DoD short, and I'm going to press the Space Bar to select it.
Now we're ready to start. If you're absolutely sure you've chosen the drive you want to wipe,
Press F10.
Now the wipe starts. You'll get some good feedback on the progress of the wipe, and
how long it's going to take. When it completes, turn off the computer, and it should be safe
to dispose of - whether you want to sell the machine or recycle it.
After you've finished, store the DBAN drive somewhere safe out of reach, or better still
erase it, because you don't want to risk erasing another computer by accident.
Please let me know in the comments below how you got on, and if you found this video helpful
please give it the thumbs up. If you’d like to see more tutorials like
this from me in future, click on my face below, and hit the red subscribe button.
And while you’re here, why not check out one of my other videos, like this one on how
to send encrypted files by email.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.