Completely Wipe the Drive, then Reinstall Windows When the warning appears, select Reset and let the process complete. The Windows 10 reset function can take a while to complete, but it will make sure there is no chance for anyone to recover data from your drive. Next, select Remove everything, then Remove files and clean the drive. Press Windows Key + I, type recovery in the search bar, and select Reset this PC. Make sure to back up any important data to a separate location. Please note: This process will wipe your data. The process removes any data waiting for deletion, including that which third-party software could recover. The process of 'wiping' refers to overwriting all sectors on your hard drive, replacing the content of the drive with zeroes or gibberish data. If you're getting rid of a PC and don't want people to access your sensitive data, you must securely wipe your drive. In turn, this means files you delete using regular methods may remain accessible even if they don't appear in the File Explorer or otherwise.

The computer marks the area the file occupied as usable, meaning it is available for another file to overwrite it in the future. You see, when you delete a file, it doesn't disappear into the ether. The difficulty is that even if you delete your personal data, it still lingers on the hard drive because of how file deletion works in Windows. If you don't wipe your drives, you're handing personal data to the person purchasing your computer. You should always wipe your drives before giving away hardware, too. So, how do you wipe a hard drive clean while leaving the operating system intact? Always Securely Wipe Your Drives Before Selling

Windows wipe hard drive