Next, figure out which type of storage your computer has.

For Macs, Apple recommends logging out of any iCloud services, including iTunes and iMessages. How you do this depends on which operating system you have and what type of storage drive your device has.īefore you wipe a computer, make sure that you have a backup of any files you need and deactivate any software that requires doing so. On most devices, wiping your data securely is pretty straightforward, and doing so can prevent your data from being recovered by someone you would rather not have it. So what if you don’t have a CD/DVD drive, or the computer simply won’t boot from CD? Well, the following instructions will step you through how to make a DBAN USB flash drive to boot from, instead of from the CD.Your computer, phone, or tablet holds all kinds of personal information about you, and before you sell, return, recycle, or donate it, you should make sure to delete all of that information correctly. DBAN can be downloaded from and is simple to use, but the download is a bootable CD image. This is a good thing to ensure no personal data can be recovered from the drive after disposal. You may have heard of a utility called DBAN (Darik’s Boot and Nuke) that will permanently wipe all the data from a hard drive before you recycle or dispose of it.

At the DBAN menu, type “autonuke” and let it run!.

Once the USB conversion is complete, restart the computer, and from the boot menu (see computer manufacturer’s instructions for how to select a boot device), boot from the USB device.

Run Universal USB Installer, select “DBAN” from the drop down list, and follow the onscreen instructions.

Download the Universal USB-Installer, which converts the *.iso image to USB flash.

Insert a USB flash drive with 32MB+ available space.

To use a USB to wipe an old hard drive on a Windows PC: Make a bootable USB flash drive to wipe an old hard drive

Completely erase hard drive