Wipe all contents of a drive

To access:

Click Start next to Wipe all contents of a drive.

What it does:

This wizard can completely erase all data for the following types of drives:

Connected drives/partitions that are not the system drive.

The system drive is where the currently running Windows operating system is installed. For the majority of users, the system drive is the C drive.

A non-system drive does not contain the operating system in use and is not used to boot your computer. An attached secondary hard drive and a partitioned drive are examples of a non-system drive. For most users, a non-system drive is a drive other than C.
Detachable drives and devices, such as a USB flash drive or a removable hard drive.

Note that this wizard cannot directly wipe a system drive, but it does provide helpful information about the boot process and can quickly direct you to the next step.

Instructions:

The wizard has screens to guide you through the wiping process.

Clicking Next will not wipe your drive. You will have the opportunity to confirm any selections prior to wiping.

Click a screen name below for more information:

Select Operation

System Drive Instructions (for System Drive operation only)

Select Drive or Device

Options

Confirm Selection

Wipe Drive