How to get rid of a hard disk that is no longer needed?
Acronis True Image for Western Digital
If you’ve been playing PC games, getting rid of HDDs is a constant problem. I believe there are people who have recently stopped using HDDs and moved to SSDs only when they upgraded their PCs and replaced HDDs to increase capacity. What do you do with the extra HDD?
You might think, “I don’t have any specific data that I would be embarrassed to see,” but even if you don’t use it for work, you don’t know what kind of data, such as account information for games and other online services, is left where. Regardless of the usage situation, you want to delete the data properly when you leave the HDD.
Some people say, “No matter how much data is deleted from HDD, data can remain. Physical destruction is the only way to completely prevent data leakage.” I believe that if the HDD is for personal use, the data should be properly deleted.
The problem is how to properly wipe data. There are various tools for erasing HDD data, including free and paid software. As an author, I want to delete data without any hassle, but surely. So, this time, I used the free “Acronis True Image for Western Digital” to erase the data on the HDD.
Delete data with “Acronis DriveCleanser”
“Acronis True Image for Western Digital” is a limited version of the image backup tool “Acronis True Image” provided by Acronis. It can be used for free on any PC with a Western Digital HDD or SSD installed. If you have multiple storage, Western Digital should make one of them, and it doesn’t matter if the work target is an HDD made by another company. The software can be downloaded from the website.
“Acronis True Image” is now called “Acronis CyberProtect Home Office,” but the one offered by Western Digital retains its old name at the time of writing.
I’ve been using this software for a long time, but it’s purpose is to backup and clone HDDs, and I didn’t know it had a data wipe function until just the other day. In the past, after cloning the data of the old HDD to the new HDD, I had to use other software to delete the data of the old HDD, but I was able to solve it with this one.
Choose[Acronis DriveCleanser]in the tab[Tools]to delete data on the HDD.
Click[Acronis DriveCleanser]from the tab[Tools]
When the “Acronis DriveCleanser” window opens, select the HDD you want to delete. Press the HDD mark button on the left side of the drive list to delete the entire drive. The right side is divided by a partition, and it is also possible to delete only the specified partition.
Select the hard drive or partition you want to wipe data from
Next, select the data deletion algorithm. The default setting[Cyflymder uchel]writes 0 to all sectors, but it is said that there is a possibility that data can be recovered from the residual magnetism on the HDD surface.
I often use[dull Adran Amddiffyn 5220.22-M sy’n cydymffurfio â’r Adran Amddiffyn]. Verification is achieved after writing a total of 3 times, so it can be said that there is no concern that the data will be restored. However, it takes a long time to write and check the entire HDD a total of four times.
You can choose the data deletion algorithm
Check “Permanently delete selected partition”
This time, I deleted data from a 4TB HDD, but the work took more than a full day. If you calculate from the HDD capacity and write speed, this is normal. The larger the HDD capacity, the longer it will take.
By the way, during this work, the estimated time remaining was less than 1 minute and it stopped for more than half a day. The HDD target for data deletion was being accessed all the time, so when I left it alone, the job completion screen appeared. Be patient so you don’t panic and stop working just because you can’t make progress.
It took more than half a day from this screen to the end of the work
This is the only working order. It takes a long time, but it’s a very simple procedure and you can delete data for free. Although the software was originally made by Acronis, it is provided by the HDD manufacturer itself, so it is extremely reliable.
Precautions when deleting data. Seagate HDD also has similar software
As a point of caution during the work, do not turn off the power of the PC until the data deletion is complete. The deletion process will also be interrupted, and you will have to start from the beginning.
When working on a notebook PC or deleting data from an external HDD, do not move the HDD while data is being deleted. A working HDD is vulnerable to shocks and can lead to failure. This is not limited to deleting data, but the danger is high because the HDD is always in operation when deleting data.
You can do other things on the computer while the data wipe is running. Delete data has a low CPU load, so there should be no problem running it in the background while playing the game. However, I would like to avoid freezing the whole Windows due to the game, so I think it is better to avoid unstable PC operation due to high load for a long time.
By the way, Seagate, a HDD manufacturer together with Western Digital, provides software called “Seagate DiscWizard”. Although the name is different, the content is “Acronis True Image” itself, and “DriveCleanser” can be used for data deletion as well. Again, it can only be used on PCs with Seagate storage.
Software for Seagate HDD “Seagate DiscWizard”. The content is completely “Acronis True Image” and data can be deleted
Since the data recording method of an SSD is completely different from that of an HDD, a different method of erasing data is required. About this, even when an unnecessary SSD comes out in my environment.
Author Profile: Katsuo Ishida
Born in 1977, from Shiga Prefecture
Freelance journalist after working as a reporter for the game magazine “GAME Watch” (Impress). He writes widely, mainly in areas that span entertainment such as games and IT systems such as personal computers, smartphones, and networks. Online player since the 1990s. In Mado no Mori, the serialization “¥100 for the first month! Recommended Match Ticket Works”, “Weekend Games”, etc.
・ Author’s website: https://ougi.net/
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