How to erase C drive securely?
The C drive is the default drive where Windows 10 is installed. It usually contains system files, applications, user files, etc. So be sure to think twice before you attempt to wipe it.
Also, it’s not allowed to directly format C drive in Windows 10. So you need to try some other methods that work for system drive.
1. Wipe C drive and reinstall Windows 10
If you want to wipe only C drive completely to free up space and resolve system errors, then install a clean copy of Windows to get better performance, then you can use Reset this PC. It can reset the computer to factory settings and give you options to keep personal files, or directly remove everything.
To be precise, “Keep my files” will remove apps, settings but keep your personal files in system partition (usually C drive), and “Remove everything” will remove all your apps, settings as well as personal files. You can make your choice accordingly and then perform reinstallation.
1. Access Windows 10 Reset this PC by following approaches:
Inside Windows: Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC
From boot: Insert installation CD or recovery drive to boot to WinRE> Select language and region > Next > Repair your computer > Troubleshot > Reset this PC
2. If your PC has more than one drive on the system disk, by selecting Remove everything, you will be given options to remove files from Only the drive where Windows is installed, or from All drives. To wipe only C drive, you can select the first one.
3. Then you can choose Just remove my files to perform a quick format, or choose Fully clean the drive to write zero to hard drive and make the deleted data hard to recover.
4. Confirm the operation and start Reset.
When it’s complete, your computer will reboot and proceed to set up Windows.
2. Clean the entire hard drive including C drive via DiskPart
As you know, manual deletion is not secure because the deleted data is still recoverable. If you want to remove everything off the disk so as to discard the hard drive securely, the easiest solution is using DiskPart
With the “clean” command, you can quickly format all the MBR or GPT partitions, which is faster but less secure. If you’ve stored some sensitive data on the hard drive and want to make it unrecoverable, you can use the “clean all” command instead.
1. Run Command Prompt in Windows 10 or from boot.
After erasing, the hard drive will become unallocated and uninitialized. So if you want to clean your current system disk, please boot to advanced boot options to use Command Prompt.
2. Enter the following commands and press Enter after each line.
Diskpart
List disk
Disk x
Clean all
*x refers to the disk you want to erase.
When the operation is complete, if you want to use the disk as a secondary storage, you need to initialize it first.
Method 3. Wipe C drive or system disk via specialist software (most secure)
Since there are different scenarios for erasing C drive, you can also use specialist software like AOMEI Backupper to fulfill all these demands.
It has a powerful Disk Wipe feature allowing you to wipe the entire system disk, only C drive, or other individual partitions. Also, you can use its backup feature to prevent unexpected data loss caused by data erasing.
As for sensitive data, you probably know Windows uses zero filling to prevent them from being recovered. But with the Professional edition of AOMEI Backupper, you will enjoy three more secure wiping methods, like DoD 5220.22-M with up to 7 passes and Gutmann with 35 passes.
Here I will give an example to wipe C drive securely in Windows 10.
1.The erased data is unrecoverable, so please go to Backup tab and make a File Backup first to protect the important data you don’t want to lose. Then switch to Tools tab and select Disk Wipe.
2. Choose to wipe selected partitions & unallocated space, or wipe all the partitions on the disk. By choosing the former, you can select only C drive on the next page; for the latter, you can select the system disk to erase. Then click Next to continue.
3. Choose the wiping method you need and Start disk wiping. Safer wiping methods come with more passes and lower wiping speed.
If you are wiping the current system disk or C drive with Windows installed, this software will reboot to WinPE to execute the operation. You won’t be able to enter the system after completion.
