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How Can I wipe my entire data on Laptop before selling it?

Tags: Software

Hello Everyone,
I’m planning to sell my laptop and want to ensure all my personal data is completely erased. A simple delete or format isn’t secure enough as data can still be recovered. I need a reliable way to wipe the entire drive permanently, leaving no chance of recovery. Any suggestions for effective software?
I’ve heard tools like SysTools Data Wipe Software work well for secure erasure. Has anyone tried it or has other recommendations?

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Reply To: How Can I wipe my entire data on Laptop before selling it?

In reply to How Can I wipe my entire data on Laptop before selling it?

No need to buy anything. You can erase the entire drive after booting from Linux. Either use the freeware verstion of Killdisk or do what https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-remove-all-partitions-data-empty-disk says.

A possible alternative to erasing is to replace the disk by a new one (with the size the new user wants). This has the advantage that you still have the old one as a backup of your data or can use it as an external hard disk.

After erasing you (or the new owner) must install Windows and drivers. That’s free.

Note that a laptop that’s not compatible with Windows 11 is not worth much. In October 2025 Microsoft ends the support of Windows 10.

Reply To: How Can I wipe my entire data on Laptop before selling it?

In reply to How Can I wipe my entire data on Laptop before selling it?

If you want the truly nuclear approach to keep your data private with no chance of possible recovery, remove the drive, replace it with a newly formatted drive and keep or physically destroy the old one

[kees_b]

Reply To: How Can I wipe my entire data on Laptop before selling it?

In reply to How Can I wipe my entire data on Laptop before selling it?

It’s more work, but you might like to wipe only your own data and programs you installed, but leave the Windows and drivers as they are, in stead of installing them again on a totally wiped disk.

There’s a difference between “my entire data” in your subject line and “the entire drive” in the body of your post. So it’s unclear what you want. That’s why I add this answer.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 6 days ago by kees_b.

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