How to Use WipeDrive to Wipe Your Hard Drive

This tutorial describes easy step-by-step instructions to:

• Use WipeDrive to wipe your computer.
• Easily reinstall any version of Windows.

Attention!

• WipeDrive will permanently erase operating systems, program files, viruses, and your data. It also erases all partition tables and drive formats - FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and Linux.
  
  
• If you intend to reinstall your operating system, make sure you have the necessary operating system installation disks or CDs prior to using WipeDrive.
  
  
• WipeDrive will not run from within Windows; it must be launched during the boot process when the computer is first turned on.
  
  

Using the WipeDrive CD

1. Insert the WipeDrive CD into your CD-ROM drive and then restart your computer.
   
   
2. You should see the WipeDrive screen shortly after you reboot. If you do not see WipeDrive, but instead see Windows, your computer is set to boot from your hard drive before the CD-ROM drive. You will need to change your computer's boot order sequence to boot from the CD-ROM drive. Changing your computer's boot order is easy to do, see changing the computer's boot order below.
   
   
3. If you cannot get your computer to start WipeDrive using the WipeDrive CD, you can create a WipeDrive boot diskette using the WipeDrive CD, see creating a WipeDrive boot diskette below.
   
   
4. Once WipeDrive is running, see using WipeDrive below.
   
   

Using the WipeDrive Diskette

1. Insert the WipeDrive diskette into the floppy drive and then restart your computer.
   
   
2. You should see the WipeDrive screen shortly after you reboot. If you do not see WipeDrive, but instead see Windows, your computer is set to boot from your hard drive before the floppy drive. You will need to change your computer's boot order sequence to boot from the floppy drive. Changing your computer's boot order is easy to do,see changing the computer's boot order below.
   
   
3. Once WipeDrive is running, see using WipeDrive below.
   
   

Creating a WipeDrive Boot Diskette

1. If you purchased and downloaded WipeDrive from the Internet, you should have already created a WipeDrive boot diskette.
   
   
2. Place the WipeDrive CD into the CDROM of a computer running Windows.
   
   
3. Windows should then auto-play the WipeDrive CD and display the WipeDrive Boot Disk Creator program.
   
   
4. If Windows does not automatically run the WipeDrive CD, choose Start | Run from the Windows taskbar. Type D:makedisk where D is your CDROM drive letter. Then press OK.
   
   
5. Once the WipeDrive Make Boot program is running, insert a blank diskette into the A: drive and follow the prompts.
   
   
6. After you have created your diskette, see using the WipeDrive diskette above.
   
   

Changing the Computer's Boot Order

1. To change the computer's boot order, restart your computer.
   
   
2. Just as your computer is booting, long before Windows starts, look on the screen for some text that says something similar to Press X to Enter Startup, where X is generally the F2 key or the DEL key.
   
   
3. If you do not see this message, try pressing the F2 and DEL keys over and over right after restarting your computer.
   
   
4. After pressing those keys, you should be taken into your computer's BIOS settings.
   
   
5. If Windows starts and you do not see your BIOS settings, you will need to press a different set of keys to enter your BIOS.
   
   
6. Once in the BIOS, look for a setting called Boot Order or Boot Sequence. Change that setting to have either your diskette or CDROM drive first in the list before the hard drive. Depending on your BIOS, your mouse may not be active and you will need to use the keyboard to navigate the screens.
   
   
7. After making the change, save your settings and exit. This is generally done by pressing the ESC key and then pressing Y to save the settings.
   
   
8. Once you have changed the settings, return to the instructions above to continue booting your computer with WipeDrive.

Using WipeDrive

Wiping a Hard Drive

1. To wipe your drives, select option 1 from the main WipeDrive menu.
   
   
2. You will then see your physical drives listed numerically.
   
   
3. Select the drive you want to wipe or select the option to wipe all drives.
   
   
4. You can then choose the number of overwrites to perform. One overwrite is more than sufficient for newer computers. If your computer is more than 6 years old, we recommend doing a DoD Level 2 overwrite which is three passes with a verify.
   
   
5. Once you have selected the number of overwrites, answer yes to the confirmation prompts to begin the wiping process.
   
   

Verifying that the Disk is Clean

• If you want to verify that your drive is clean, you can use options 2, 3, and 4 from the main menu.
  
  
• Option 2 is a Quick Verify. WipeDrive will spot check the drive for uncleaned sectors.
  
  
• Option 3 is a Complete Verify. WipeDrive will check every sector on the drive for uncleaned sectors.
  
  
• Option 4 allows you to manually view specified sectors on the drive.
  
  

Disk Errors

• If WipeDrive reports errors during a wipe or verification, it probably means that your drive is experiencing some problems.
  
  
• Errors generally mean your drive could be beginning to fail. If you encounter errors, we recommend rebooting the computer and trying to wipe it again. If you still encounter errors, you can use your drive, but we highly recommend backing up the data on it often as the drive could fail at any time.
  
  

Log Files and Other Settings

• Other WipeDrive settings can be selected from the main WipeDrive menu; including a list of command line parameters.
  
  
• If you are running WipeDrive from a diskette, WipeDrive can save an event log of the wiping session.
  
  

Reinstalling Windows

• Learn how to reinstall Windows.