I'm planning to pass down my laptop to someone I know and want to make sure it's wiped clean before doing so. I was thinking about using the built-in Windows option called "Reset this PC" and selecting "Remove Everything." Is that enough to safely erase all my data? I don't want to replace the SSD, and it's an Asus laptop with an SSD, so I'm looking for the best method to ensure my data is completely gone. Thanks in advance!
1 Answer
A simple reset might not be enough. It's better to physically remove the SSD and connect it to another PC to clean the drive using Diskpart. You might even need to reinitialize it. After that, you can put it back in the laptop and do a fresh install with a bootable USB created with the Windows Media Creation Tool or Rufus. This method provides a much safer wipe for your data.
Why remove the SSD at all? You could just boot from a USB and erase the drive before performing a clean install. If you trust the person getting it, they probably won't have the skills to recover deleted files from the SSD.