Free tools to securely wipe hard disk data

There comes a point in your computer’s life when completely erasing the hard disk drive(s) is necessary. You might be putting the computer up for donation or sale or just want to wipe everything so as to start fresh. Wiping or securely erasing the contents of your hard disk is not necessary if you simply want to reinstall the operating system, but it should be done if you do not want that lucky recipient of your generosity being able to read your sensitive data. Here are a few free bootable tools that will do the job very well and probably relieve your paranoia.

Nobody should have access to your private documents without your consent. Securely erasing your computer’s hard disk before passing it on makes it extremely difficult for someone else to recover it. Simply sending a file to the Recycle Bin and emptying it does not guarantee that the data cannot be recovered. There are a lot of freely accessible software out there that can perform recoveries in such scenarios. The wiping algorithms employed in many of the applications mentioned below will, for the most part, permanently delete your sensitive data.