I forgot to wipe my HDD and i've dismantled my computer.

[HelloMyNameIsStan]

I removed my hard drive from my old computer and I am reusing for another build which I am about to get to work on. I was planning to wipe it and reinstall Windows on my new SSD, but I forgot to wipe my hdd. I have another computer handy. how can I wipe my HDD?

[Droidbot]

If the drive is powered up and plugged during Windows installation even onto the SSD, the HDD partition should show up and be delete-able. 

[Naeaes]

24 minutes ago, HelloMyNameIsStan said:

I removed my hard drive from my old computer and I am reusing for another build which I am about to get to work on. I was planning to wipe it and reinstall Windows on my new SSD, but I forgot to wipe my hdd. I have another computer handy. how can I wipe my HDD?

Build your new computer. Install Windows without pugging this HDD in. Once your windows is up and running, plug the HDD in and wipe it. At first it'll show up just like any external drive with all your data on it. If there's nothing to keep and you want to make sure no missed viruses bleed over to your new OS, run cmd.exe as admin and type in 

diskpart

List disk

select disk # (replace the # with a number you get from the last part)

clean

exit

exit

Then open disk management (right-click start and pick disk management). Once you open it, you should get a prompt to initialize, partition and format the drive. If you do, follow the wizard, if not Initialize it by right-clicking on the block on the left, partition and format it by right-clicking on the block on the right. 

 

If on the other hand you're not worried about viruses (you should be! You do not know.) you can just assign a drive letter for the drive in disk management and delete your old windows and programs (delete Appdata, ProgramData, Windows, Programfiles and pogramfiles(x86) -folders and pagefil.sys, hiberfil.sys and bootmgr) Then remove the old system reserved partitions on the old drive (you don't want to risk your BIOS thinking the HDD is a boot drive or your windows thinking the old restore points are valid) Lastly run a virus scan on it.

[Naeaes]

Oh, I forgot. None of what I said above actually overwrites anything, just deletes. If you intend to make the data as unrecoverable as possible, you need to overwrite it. I'd go with the drive wiper in CCleaner. Since you're not selling the drive, it's really unnecessary but doable and in cases justifiable.

[bigneo]

Alternatively, you can put it into the microwave for no more than 20 seconds on full blast. Long pause, That should wipe it. 

[Joshua Ondangan]

15 minutes ago, bigneo said:

Alternatively, you can put it into the microwave for no more than 20 seconds on full blast. Long pause, That should wipe it. 

wouldn't this totally wipe the bejesus out of it? hahahahaha

[HelloMyNameIsStan]

24 minutes ago, Naeaes said:

Build your new computer. Install Windows without pugging this HDD in. Once your windows is up and running, plug the HDD in and wipe it. At first it'll show up just like any external drive with all your data on it. If there's nothing to keep and you want to make sure no missed viruses bleed over to your new OS, run cmd.exe as admin and type in 

diskpart

List disk

select disk # (replace the # with a number you get from the last part)

clean

exit

exit

Then open disk management (right-click start and pick disk management). Once you open it, you should get a prompt to initialize, partition and format the drive. If you do, follow the wizard, if not Initialize it by right-clicking on the block on the left, partition and format it by right-clicking on the block on the right. 

this seems like the option to go for since id like to start fresh right?

[Naeaes]

7 minutes ago, HelloMyNameIsStan said:

this seems like the option to go for since id like to start fresh right?

Yup. It'll be as if the drive was never formatted.