Solved How to wipe an external hard drive

stuart253 · Nov 14, 2025

Hello,

Sorry If this was posted in the wrong room or way off topic, but I have no idea of where I should post it.

I have several external drives that I want to wipe them clean before deposing of them. I prefer not to hook up to my computer to wipe them clean. Would a degausser work? If so, any recommendations? Thanks

Stu

SIW2 · Nov 14, 2025

I think you would need an extremely strong magnet which would be difficult to separate from the disk. And they are probably not cheap. There are professional services which have degaussing equipment.

You’ll need an industrial magnet (think: the type of magnet used to lift entire vehicles in scrap yards).

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Much easier to attach the disks to a pc. Most partition managers have a function to overwrite disks or the cipher command or clean all .
according to the ms article

cipher

Reference article for the cipher command, which displays or alters the encryption of directories and files on NTFS volumes.

learn.microsoft.com

Unless you fancy physically smashing the disks with a sledgehammer which could be messy

bobkn · Nov 14, 2025

The degaussers I've used probably aren't strong enough to blank a hard drive. Better suited to degauss a CRT. (Remember those?)

I've used an 8lb sledge. Quick, if possibly a bit messy.

Ghot · Nov 14, 2025

Sledge hammer.
High speed drill.

Junk yards usually have metal shredders.

antspants · Nov 14, 2025

CCleaner also has an option to “Wipe” drives.

glasskuter · Nov 14, 2025

A Colt 45 is my solution. My husband loves aiming at those paper labels.

XxXxX · Nov 14, 2025

i don't know of a way to wipe a HDD or SSD without connecting that drive to a computer
destroying a drive can be done without a computer but not wiping a drive.

you can use a live Linux USB distro, which runs from the USB stick and doesn't install anything to your computer
also Windows isn't running so no chance of anything affecting the Windows system.

you can then delete all partitions reformat the drive several times then use Linux LUX encryption putting several minutes of random keyboard characters. then destroy the drive with a drill and sledgehammer, as stated above.

best of luck Steve ..

bobkn · Nov 14, 2025

Ghot said:
Sledge hammer.
High speed drill.

Junk yards usually have metal shredders.

(snip)

I've also used a drill, on a bare drive.

Not sure what would happen if an HDD with glass platters was attacked with a drill (that doesn't have a masonry bit).

Bree · Nov 14, 2025

stuart253 said:
I have several external drives that I want to wipe them clean before deposing of them.

bobkn said:
...I've used an 8lb sledge. Quick, if possibly a bit messy.

Ghot said:
Sledge hammer.
High speed drill...

glasskuter said:
A Colt 45 is my solution. My husband loves aiming at those paper labels.

Less violent methods of physical destruction are available, and a screwdriver is the tool for the job (cross-head or torx, as appropriate).

Just take the lid of the HDD, let the dust get in. To be really sure try pouring in some soil or sand and rub it into the platters, the more scratches the better.

KevTech · Nov 14, 2025

I take them apart and destroy the platters by cutting them in half.
Then I remove and keep the magnets which are rare earth magnets.

SIW2 · Nov 14, 2025

what do you do with your collection of magnets

KevTech · Nov 14, 2025

I use the magnets for holding things on shelves/walls like tools.
I also attach them to dry erase boards which then will not fall off the refrigerator.
Also attach them to a metal basket as most of them come with weak magnets but rare earth are not weak.
They work well for magnetizing other metal items like screwdrivers as well.

glasskuter · Nov 14, 2025

Bree said:
Less violent methods of physical destruction are available,

Aww, don't bust my husband's balloon. He gets so excited when I take old drives out of systems. We take bets.....and I always lose because he never misses.
But I understand that Brits and Texans have a whole different mindset about firearms. It's in our DNA.

bobkn · Nov 14, 2025

KevTech said:
I use the magnets for holding things on shelves/walls like tools.
I also attach them to dry erase boards which then will not fall off the refrigerator.
Also attach them to a metal basket as most of them come with weak magnets but rare earth are not weak.
They work well for magnetizing other metal items like screwdrivers as well.

I use 'em for sticking floppy disks to the steel filing cabinet.

(Not really, but it has been done. In the ancient past.)

Bree · Nov 14, 2025

glasskuter said:
Aww, don't bust my husband's balloon. He gets so excited when I take old drives out of systems. We take bets.....and I always lose because he never misses.
But I understand that Brits and Texans have a whole different mindset about firearms. It's in our DNA.

Different firearm laws too.... :ROFLMAO:

Ghot · Nov 14, 2025

Sulfuric acid, works wonders.

bobkn · Nov 14, 2025

Ghot said:
Sulfuric acid, works wonders.

I'd suggest aqua regia. (Nitric + hydrochloric, so called because it'll dissolve gold.) Be careful of the fumes, though.

More seriously, if you choose the sledgehammer, wear eye protection.

Sheikh · Nov 14, 2025

I always use Parted magic (bootable from USB); It’s based on linux and has dozens of different methods to fully wipe your HDD and SSD as well.

jimbo45 · Nov 17, 2025

Any software that does a physical sector / cluster by sector write - either random digits or hex '00'. Prefereably a bootable one so no dependency on the native OS'es file system.

Mind you if you want the disk to be "F.B.I" proof a good hammer is the ultimate tool.

Cheers
jimbo

colinp · Nov 17, 2025

I would think (something I rarely do) that if one would maybe drill a hole in the cover to allow moisture in and maybe a good whack of a sledge is all that would be needed. Pretty well all computer components wind up in the dump in all sorts of weather anyway, so I can't imagine that a no-goodnik would go to the time and expense of trying to get an old, smashed moisture ridden HD up and running. However I very well could be wrong as it seems to happen with all too much regularity lately...

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