I'm planning to sell my laptop, which is running Windows 11. I've already selected the 'remove everything' option in the reset menu that claims it completely wipes the drive. However, I want to make sure that everything is truly gone and cannot be recovered. Is there anything else I need to do to ensure my data is completely removed and unrecoverable?
2 Answers
For absolute peace of mind, you could physically remove the hard drive or SSD and destroy it. If you prefer to leave it intact, ensure to use the options in the Windows reset menu that overwrite the free space, although it takes longer. If you're really paranoid about data recovery, physical destruction is the safest bet!
If you're dealing with an SSD, a standard reformat may suffice, but just know that regular formatting might not erase all recoverable data. It's better to zero out the drive completely if you're serious about security.
Yeah, if someone really wants to recover data, they could potentially do it even from a drive that's just been formatted. Overwriting it is definitely the way to go.