Guides

How to Wipe a Hard Drive in Windows 11 (2026)

A 2023 study by Blancco found that 42% of used drives sold on secondary markets still contained recoverable personal data — including tax records, medical documents, and login credentials. If you are preparing a Windows 11 PC for sale, donation, or recycling, a simple format or file deletion is not enough. You need to properly wipe the drive to prevent your data from ending up in someone else's hands.

Key Takeaways:

  • Windows 11 "Reset this PC" with "Clean data" is the easiest method for wiping the OS drive, but it does not produce a certified erasure report
  • The diskpart clean all command is effective for wiping secondary HDDs without reinstalling Windows
  • SSD erasure requires firmware-level commands — overwrite-based methods cannot reach all data on solid-state drives due to wear leveling
  • One overwrite pass is sufficient for modern HDDs according to NIST 800-88 guidance
  • For compliance or business use, third-party tools like BitRaser provide verified erasure with tamper-proof certificates

Before You Begin

Before wiping any drive, run through this checklist to avoid losing data you still need.

Backup Checklist

  1. Identify what to save. Documents, photos, videos, browser bookmarks, saved passwords, application settings, license keys for paid software, and game saves are commonly overlooked.
  2. Back up to an external drive or cloud storage. Copy files to an external USB drive, or upload them to OneDrive, Google Drive, or another cloud service. Do not back up to a different partition on the same drive you plan to wipe.
  3. Export browser data. Chrome, Edge, and Firefox all support exporting bookmarks and passwords from their settings menus.
  4. Deauthorize software licenses. Some applications (Adobe, Microsoft Office standalone licenses, iTunes) limit the number of authorized devices. Deauthorize before wiping.
  5. Note your Windows 11 product key. If your license is tied to a Microsoft account, it will reactivate automatically on the same hardware. For standalone licenses, save the key using wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey in Command Prompt.
  6. Verify your backup. Open a few files from your backup location to confirm they copied correctly before proceeding.

Know Your Drive Type

The method you choose depends on whether you have an HDD (hard disk drive) or SSD (solid-state drive), and whether the drive contains your Windows installation.

To check your drive type in Windows 11:

  1. Press Windows + S and type Defragment
  2. Open Defragment and Optimize Drives
  3. The "Media type" column shows either "Hard disk drive" or "Solid state drive"

This distinction matters. The techniques in this guide work well for HDDs. If you have an SSD, read the caveats in the HDD vs SSD section below, and consider following our dedicated SSD secure erase guide instead.

Method 1: Windows 11 Reset This PC (OS Drive)

This is the simplest way to wipe the drive that contains your Windows 11 installation. It erases all files, removes installed apps, and reverts settings to factory defaults. When you enable the "Clean data" option, Windows also overwrites the freed space with zeros.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. Open Settings by pressing Windows + I
  2. Navigate to System > Recovery
  3. Under "Recovery options," click the Reset PC button next to "Reset this PC"
  4. Select Remove everything (not "Keep my files")
  5. Choose Local reinstall (faster) or Cloud download (downloads a fresh copy from Microsoft — useful if your installation has issues)
  6. Click Change settings
  7. Toggle Clean data to Yes — this is the critical step that overwrites your data instead of just deleting file references
  8. If you are selling or giving away the PC, also toggle Delete files from all drives to Yes to include secondary drives
  9. Review the summary and click Reset
  10. Your PC will restart and begin the process. Do not interrupt it.

What This Method Actually Does

With "Clean data" enabled, Windows writes zeros across the drive after removing your files. On an HDD, this effectively makes your data unrecoverable with standard tools. The entire process typically takes 2-6 hours depending on drive size and speed.

However, this method has limitations:

  • No erasure certificate. You get no documentation proving the wipe occurred — a requirement for many business and compliance scenarios.
  • Not a recognized sanitization standard. The overwrite is effective, but it does not follow a named standard like NIST 800-88 Clear or Purge.
  • SSD limitations. On solid-state drives, wear leveling means the operating system cannot address every physical memory cell. Some data may persist in over-provisioned areas that Windows cannot reach. See our explanation of why formatting does not erase data for more on this.

Bottom Line: Windows 11 Reset with "Clean data" is perfectly adequate for personal HDDs being sold or donated. If you need certified erasure, compliance documentation, or are wiping an SSD, use a dedicated tool instead.

Method 2: Diskpart Clean All (Secondary Drives)

If you want to wipe a secondary internal drive or an external HDD without reinstalling Windows, diskpart is a built-in command-line tool that writes zeros to every sector on the target drive.

Warning: Diskpart can wipe any connected drive, including your OS drive. Triple-check the disk number before running clean all. Selecting the wrong disk will destroy your Windows installation.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. Press Windows + S, type cmd, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator
  2. Type diskpart and press Enter to launch the disk partitioning tool
  3. Type list disk and press Enter to display all connected drives

You will see output like:

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          476 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 1    Online          931 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 2    Online         1863 GB      0 B
  1. Identify the correct disk by its size. Do not guess. If you are unsure, open Disk Management (right-click the Start button > Disk Management) to cross-reference disk numbers with drive letters and partition labels.
  2. Type select disk X (replace X with the correct disk number) and press Enter
  3. Type clean all and press Enter

The clean all command writes zeros to every sector on the selected drive. This is a single-pass zero-fill overwrite. For a 1 TB HDD, expect it to take 3-5 hours. The command prompt will appear to freeze — this is normal. Do not close the window.

  1. When complete, you will see: DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.
  2. Type exit twice to close diskpart and Command Prompt

After Wiping with Diskpart

The drive will appear as unallocated space. To use it again:

  1. Open Disk Management (right-click Start > Disk Management)
  2. Right-click the unallocated disk and select Initialize Disk
  3. Choose GPT (recommended for modern systems) or MBR
  4. Right-click the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume
  5. Follow the wizard to assign a drive letter and format with NTFS

Quick Reference: Diskpart Commands

Command What It Does
clean Removes partition table only — data remains recoverable
clean all Writes zeros to every sector — data is overwritten
list disk Shows all connected disks with sizes
select disk X Targets disk number X for the next command

Never use clean (without "all") if your goal is data erasure. The basic clean command only removes partition metadata. Your files remain on the disk and can be recovered with free tools. For a full explanation, see our complete guide to wiping a hard drive.

Method 3: Third-Party Erasure Software

For situations where you need verified erasure, compliance documentation, or more control over the wiping process, dedicated data erasure software is the way to go. These tools support recognized sanitization standards, can generate tamper-proof reports, and handle both HDDs and SSDs more effectively than built-in Windows tools.

When to Use Third-Party Tools

  • You need a certificate of erasure for auditing, compliance, or liability protection
  • You are wiping drives for a business, healthcare provider, or financial institution subject to regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, or PCI DSS
  • You want to follow a specific erasure standard (NIST 800-88, IEEE 2883)
  • You are wiping multiple drives and need batch processing
  • You are wiping SSDs and need firmware-level sanitize commands

Recommended Tools

BitRaser Drive Eraser — The most comprehensive option for both personal and professional use. Supports 27+ international erasure standards, generates tamper-proof certificates, and handles HDD, SSD, and NVMe drives. Boots from USB so it can wipe the OS drive. Plans start at $39 for a single drive.

KillDisk — A longtime standard in disk sanitization. The free version performs a single-pass zero-fill (equivalent to diskpart clean all). The professional edition adds multiple standards support, certificates, and network-based wiping for enterprise environments.

EaseUS BitWiper — A straightforward tool that works well for wiping secondary drives within Windows. Offers 1-pass, 3-pass, and DoD-pattern overwrites. Good for personal use when you do not need certified reports.

DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) — A free, open-source option that boots from USB and wipes all connected drives. No longer actively developed, but still functional for HDD erasure. Does not support SSDs or generate certificates. See our best data erasure software roundup for a full comparison.

To wipe your OS drive with any of these tools, you will need to create a bootable USB drive first. The tool then runs independently of Windows, giving it full access to the drive that normally hosts your operating system.

HDD vs SSD: What You Need to Know

This is the single most misunderstood aspect of drive wiping. HDDs and SSDs store data in fundamentally different ways, and those differences directly affect which erasure methods work.

HDD (Hard Disk Drive)

HDDs write data to magnetic platters in a predictable, sequential manner. When you overwrite a sector, the previous data is physically replaced. This makes overwrite-based methods — Windows Reset with Clean data, diskpart clean all, or any third-party tool performing a zero-fill — highly effective.

For HDDs, all three methods in this guide work well. Per NIST 800-88 guidance, a single overwrite pass is sufficient for modern HDDs. You do not need multiple passes.

SSD (Solid-State Drive)

SSDs use NAND flash memory with a translation layer (FTL) that maps logical addresses to physical memory cells. The drive's controller decides where data is actually stored, and it maintains hidden areas for wear leveling and over-provisioning that the operating system and standard software tools cannot access.

This means:

  • Overwrite commands may not reach all data. When you write zeros to an SSD, the controller may write those zeros to different physical cells than the ones holding your original data.
  • Windows Reset "Clean data" on SSD performs a zero-fill that the drive controller manages. Some original data may remain in cells that the FTL no longer maps to active logical addresses.
  • diskpart clean all on SSD has the same limitation. It writes zeros at the logical level, but the FTL decides which physical cells receive those writes.

The reliable approach for SSDs: Use firmware-level commands — ATA Secure Erase, NVMe Sanitize, or NVMe Format with Crypto Erase — which instruct the drive's own controller to sanitize all cells, including over-provisioned areas. Our SSD secure erase guide walks through these commands step by step.

If you are preparing a drive for sale and it is an SSD, a firmware-level erase is the only method that meets NIST 800-88 Purge-level sanitization.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Thinking a format is a wipe. A quick format in Windows only removes file system metadata. A full format in Windows 11 does write zeros to every sector (on HDDs), but it does not provide verification or certification. See why formatting does not erase data.

Using diskpart clean instead of diskpart clean all. Omitting "all" only destroys the partition table. Every file on the drive is still recoverable with basic data recovery software.

Wiping the wrong disk with diskpart. Always verify the disk number using both list disk (check size) and Disk Management (check drive letter and volume labels) before running any destructive command.

Using overwrite methods on SSDs and assuming complete erasure. This is the most common technical mistake. A single-pass overwrite on an SSD may leave data behind in areas managed by the flash translation layer. Always use firmware-level commands for SSDs.

Interrupting the wipe process. A partial wipe is worse than no wipe — some data is erased and some is not, giving a false sense of security. Let the process complete fully, especially diskpart clean all, which can take several hours on large HDDs.

Skipping verification. After wiping, boot from a USB drive and run a data recovery tool to confirm nothing is recoverable. This is especially worthwhile for drives that held sensitive data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Windows 11 Reset this PC fully erase a hard drive?

When you select "Remove everything" with "Clean data" enabled, Windows 11 writes zeros across the drive. This is effective for HDDs but may not fully sanitize SSDs due to wear leveling and over-provisioned areas that the OS cannot directly address.

How long does it take to wipe a hard drive in Windows 11?

A quick reset without data cleaning takes 20-40 minutes. With "Clean data" enabled, a 1 TB HDD typically takes 3-6 hours depending on drive speed. SSDs complete much faster, usually within 30-90 minutes for the same capacity.

Can I wipe my hard drive from Windows 11 without reinstalling?

Yes. You can wipe secondary (non-OS) drives using diskpart clean all from Command Prompt or with third-party tools like BitRaser or KillDisk without affecting your Windows installation. You only need to reinstall if you are wiping the drive that contains Windows.

Is diskpart clean all enough to securely erase data?

For HDDs, diskpart clean all writes zeros across the entire drive surface, which meets NIST 800-88 Clear-level sanitization. For SSDs, it is less reliable because wear leveling may leave data in areas the command cannot reach. Use manufacturer secure erase tools for SSDs instead.

What is the difference between diskpart clean and diskpart clean all?

The clean command only removes partition and volume information from the drive, leaving actual data intact and recoverable. The clean all command writes zeros to every sector on the drive, which takes much longer but actually overwrites your data.

Should I wipe my SSD differently than my HDD in Windows 11?

Yes. HDDs can be reliably wiped with overwrite-based methods like diskpart clean all. SSDs require firmware-level commands like ATA Secure Erase or NVMe Sanitize because wear leveling prevents overwrite tools from reaching all stored data. See our SSD secure erase guide for the full walkthrough.

Do I need special software to wipe a hard drive in Windows 11?

Not necessarily. Windows 11 includes built-in options like Reset this PC and diskpart that can effectively wipe HDDs. However, third-party tools offer advantages like certified erasure reports, support for multiple standards, and more reliable SSD sanitization.

Can data be recovered after using Windows 11 Reset with clean data?

On HDDs, recovering data after a full overwrite is extremely unlikely with any commercially available tools. On SSDs, small amounts of data could theoretically remain in over-provisioned or wear-leveled areas, though practical recovery is still very difficult.

How do I wipe a drive that Windows 11 is installed on?

Use the built-in Reset this PC feature at Settings > System > Recovery. Select "Remove everything," choose "Clean data," and let Windows handle the process. Alternatively, boot from a USB drive running DBAN or ShredOS to wipe the OS drive independently.

Is one pass enough to wipe a hard drive?

Yes. NIST 800-88 confirms that a single overwrite pass is sufficient for modern hard drives. The old idea that you need 3, 7, or 35 passes comes from outdated research on older drive technology. One full pass with verification is all you need for an HDD.

The Bottom Line

For most people wiping an HDD-based Windows 11 PC before selling or donating, Reset this PC with "Clean data" enabled gets the job done. For secondary drives, diskpart clean all works well. If you have an SSD, skip overwrite methods and use firmware-level erase commands. And if you need compliance documentation, a tool like BitRaser provides verified erasure with a certificate. Whichever method you choose, verify the results and never assume a simple format is enough.

Last updated: February 2026. We regularly review and update our guides to ensure accuracy.

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