Do you have a bad mechanical hard drive that you need to dispose of safely, but you’re unsure what to do with the data on it? Fortunately, there’s a program that can erase it safely. The program is called Active KillDisk, and in this article, we’ll show you how to use it step by step.
First, go to the Active KillDisk website and download the program. Once you have it installed, open the program and go to Preferences. Tick both boxes and ignore all errors since the drive is already bad. In the General section, you can fill out the information as you wish. For Environment, Sound, and Notifications, you can customize them as per your preferences. You can set your disc erase how you want it, but note that the free version only allows one pass of zeros, which should be sufficient. If you want to do it more than once, you’ll have to pay for the program.
Next, select the drive you want to erase by clicking on the Erase Disk button. Choose “Select All” for the disk space. If you have partitions, be aware that this process will take longer. If you’re doing this to a solid-state drive, don’t bother. You’ll destroy the SSD because of all the reading/writing to the flash memory chips. Once everything looks okay, click the Start button, and the drive will begin the erasing process.
The process will take longer if you have a bigger drive, which is normal. Be careful not to wipe your own system drive, even though it probably won’t let you because Windows is forcing a mount on it.
It’s important to note that if you’re using an enclosure, the process will go faster if you have a faster enclosure or a USB 3.0 enclosure. If you have a USB 2 enclosure, it might take quite a bit of time for bigger capacity drives.
In conclusion, Active KillDisk is a great program to use if you have a bad mechanical hard drive that you need to dispose of safely. Follow the steps mentioned above, and you’ll be able to erase your hard drive without any issues. Remember to be careful while using this program and not to wipe your own system drive. We hope this guide helps you in safely disposing of your hard drive.