If you've been using Windows for quite some time, you may be familiar with the command prompt and some of the commands you can use there. If you are using Windows 8 or Windows 10, you may not be familiar with a change made to a familiar command: format.
Starting in Windows 8, the format command now allows you to use the /p switch, which causes the command to not only format a drive, but also to perform as many passes on the data surface as you want. Multiple passes decrease the likelihood that someone could successfully retrieve information that used to be on the drive. If you plan on giving the drive to someone else and you previously had information on the drive you don't want them to potentially recover, then using the /p switch is a good idea.
As an example, let's say that you had an external drive (F:) that you want to give to someone else. After you've copied all the information from the drive, you can display the command prompt window (as discussed in other WindowsTips) and then use this command:
format f: /p:5
This command performs 5 formatting passes. While this may take a while to complete, the process makes the probability of anyone accessing old information vanishingly small. (It sure beats the old way I used to make sure nobody could access data on a drive I no longer needed: Hitting it multiple times with a three-pound sledgehammer.)
This tip (2596) applies to Windows 8 and 10.
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2016-03-07 08:39:14
WyoSteve
Is there any program or app which accomplishes this for Win7?
2016-03-07 08:38:20
Jennifer Thomas
Way back when, we used to run old drives between a pair of powerful magnets before reformatting them, the concept being that the EM would 'scramble' the drive's data beyond recoverability.
Does that still work? Did it ever really work?
Just idle curiosity, but if anyone knows I'd appreciate your input!
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