Preparing a HDD

[jcooper2187]

So i am preparing to remove a secondary internal hard drive but i want to know how to erase data just from the second hard drive and then how to safely remove it without damaging my pc. Someone help please?

[Blue4130]

8 hours ago, jcooper2187 said:

So i am preparing to remove a secondary internal hard drive but i want to know how to erase data just from the second hard drive and then how to safely remove it without damaging my pc. Someone help please?

Use format command to wipe, or a third party software. Then turn off the pc and remove the drive. You aren't going to damage the pc by removing it. Heck, you can remove it without powering down and the pc will be fine, just possibly corrupting the drive you just wiped (so inconsequential) 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

39 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Use format command to wipe, or a third party software. Then turn off the pc and remove the drive. You aren't going to damage the pc by removing it. Heck, you can remove it without powering down and the pc will be fine, just possibly corrupting the drive you just wiped (so inconsequential) 

Formattng alone won't wipe a drive properly. The best thing to do is to use a program that will write 0s and 1s to the drive. I used to use Ccleaner for that back when I still used HDDs. Contrary to popular belief, one pass is plenty. Ccleaner will do a mininum of three passes.

[Blue4130]

1 hour ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Formattng alone won't wipe a drive properly. The best thing to do is to use a program that will write 0s and 1s to the drive. I used to use Ccleaner for that back when I still used HDDs. Contrary to popular belief, one pass is plenty. Ccleaner will do a mininum of three passes.

That's why I mention third party software. OP doesn't mention what he is doing with the drive. If he's reusing it himself in a different build, format will be fine. If he's selling it, third-party wipe, if he's retiring it permanently - hammer to the platters. 

 

[jcooper2187]

On 11/29/2019 at 5:29 AM, Blue4130 said:

That's why I mention third party software. OP doesn't mention what he is doing with the drive. If he's reusing it himself in a different build, format will be fine. If he's selling it, third-party wipe, if he's retiring it permanently - hammer to the platters. 

 

I am getting rid of it. I am mostly asking do i need to do anything to prepare it from removing from pc

[tikker]

12 minutes ago, jcooper2187 said:

I am getting rid of it. I am mostly asking do i need to do anything to prepare it from removing from pc

You don't need to wipe it just to remove it from the system. Shut down your PC, disconnect the cables and take it out. That's it. If it's going in the trash, and you really don't want any chance of people recovering what's on it, take a hammer to it afterwards, but a format is enough to deter most people.