Best free ways of cleaning and wiping a HDD?

[SF Klein]

get some cheap neodymium magnets and let them sit on top of the hard drive for a while.

 

[barry2017]

Or, for that matter take it apart for the cool shiny disks and some cheap neodynium magnets!

 

[Easy_Rider]

DBAN as other have said.

Just a format and fresh install is no good. You can recover data from upto 4 formats previously if using standard wipe methods.

 

[drcarlos]

Hirens boot CD has all the tools you'll ever need including a HDD wiper that writes 0's and 1's to all sectors one after another, doesn't meet government approval but unless you spend £200 per machine nothing does. However for home use it should be fine.

Carl.

 

[Easy_Rider]

Hirens boot CD has all the tools you'll ever need including a HDD wiper that writes 0's and 1's to all sectors one after another, doesn't meet government approval but unless you spend £200 per machine nothing does. However for home use it should be fine.

Carl.

DBAN has several methods to choose from, some are US government approved. 6 methods with varying degrees of security and you can choose the number of passes, depends how much time you have for it to run. and its free
http://www.dban.org/
About DBAN

Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.

DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis.

DBAN is a free software product that can be used at home or in a business at zero cost. The only official place to obtain DBAN is by download at this web site. We do not sell DBAN media.