Wiping your hard drive prior to reinstalling Windows 7 is the preferred installation method, and ensures optimal performance. Should you clean the drive when reinstalling Windows? This option makes it harder to restore the deleted data and helps avoid leakage of important information. If you choose “Remove files and clean the drive”, Windows reset will not only erase the saved data but also fully clean the drive/drives. What happens if I remove files and clean the drive? The process involves erasing data more deeply, which ensures that the data can never be retrieved again.

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.What Does Clean the Drive Fully Mean? When you select the option of “Fully Clean the Drive” while resetting the PC, it includes a complete format of your computer. 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. 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. 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.

Clear hard drive