What’s the safest way to wipe an external hard drive before disposing of it?

[RachelVinx]

I have an old external HDD that I no longer use and want to dispose of. However, it contains sensitive documents, including financial records. What’s the most secure way to ensure that the data is permanently erased? Would a tool like SysTools Data Wipe be effective?

 

[Andy]

To securely erase an old external HDD, use a data wiping tool that supports multi-pass overwriting (e.g. 3-pass or DoD standard). This ensures the original data can’t be recovered, even with forensic tools. For mechanical HDDs, overwriting the entire disk several times is generally enough.

If the drive is an SSD, use the manufacturer’s secure erase utility or a tool that supports SSD-specific wiping methods.

For extra security, especially if the data is very sensitive, consider physically destroying the drive after wiping — such as drilling through it or shattering the platters.