Planning to get rid of your Windows PC? Here's how to make sure all the personal files on your storage drive are erased and unrecoverable, whether you're running Windows 11, 10, 8.1, or 7.

For those of you erasing a mechanical hard drive, make sure you choose a utility that meets the DoD 5220.22-M standard. This means the utility will fully wipe your drive by overwriting your data ...

The Windows tool Diskpart overwrites all data on the hard drive with a zero, which is considered a secure deletion method. This applies at least to classic hard drives, i.e. HDDs with magnetic discs.