{"id":46003,"date":"2018-11-06T11:24:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T19:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:drivesaversdatarecovery.com\/\/?p=46003"},"modified":"2026-03-03T01:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:11:51","slug":"wiping-a-working-drive-tips-and-tricks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drivesaversdatarecovery.com\/en-gb\/blog\/wiping-a-working-drive-tips-and-tricks\/","title":{"rendered":"Wiping a Working Drive: Tips and Tricks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Mike Cobb, Director of Engineering<\/em><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re upping your digital game by replacing a working computer or hard drive with something newer, whether for business or personal purposes, chances are you will be selling, donating or passing down your older computer and it will be used by someone else.<\/p>\n

Whoever the next user is going to be, they certainly don\u2019t need access to your data that is proprietary, financial, identity-related or otherwise confidential. You\u2019ll want to securely wipe the drive before sending it to its new home.<\/p>\n

First, Back Up the Data You Want to Keep<\/h2>\n

Before committing to wiping your device, be sure you have:<\/p>\n

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  1. Moved the data you want to keep onto a backup hard drive and\/or cloud backup solution<\/li>\n
  2. Copied the data onto your new computer<\/li>\n
  3. Tested the files on both your new computer and your backup locations to be sure no files are corrupted and all are usable<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It\u2019s worth preaching about the 3-2-1 Rule and backing up critical data files to more than one location. The methods described here will make the data unrecoverable by commercial software programs and data recovery service providers. So in this case, once the data is gone, it\u2019s really, really gone.<\/p>\n

    3-2-1 Rule<\/h3>\n