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How to Erase Data on Seagate External Hard Drive Securely on Windows 10, 11?
Admin | data wipe How to's Software Technology | 5 minutes read | Last updated on February 8th, 2023,
How to delete off Seagate external hard drive data without any scope of recovery? Manual deletion is a big no-no, and formatting the hard drive is not a good option either. Want to know various methods for how to delete everything off Seagate external hard drive or how to erase data on Seagate external hard drive? Then read below :
Why You Should Erase Seagate External Hard Drive Data?
Seagate external hard drive is a portable storage drive that consists of loads of personal as well as business information. The saved information may include your identification documents, financial reports, photos, business related data and etc. If you want to resell this drive or throw it away just because it is of no further use, make sure to delete all the data from it. but just pressing the delete button is enough? Is this really a safe method of erasing data from Seagate external hard drive?
Well the answer is NO. just deleting the data using Delete button is not at all a secure method of permanent data deletion. Anyone can easily recover complete data from it using any data recovery software. Therefore, it is necessary to use some robust solution to erase Seagate external hard drive data.
How to Delete Files on Seagate External Hard Drive Using In-Built Tools?
Since manual method is ruled out from the listed suggestions, many users think about formatting being the next best option for permanent deletion of data from hard drive. But is that so?
Mostly people perform quick formatting to achieve results faster. But data deleted using this method will leave it on the hard drive, ready to be recovered, unless it is being completely overwritten.
For more secure results, you must reformat Seagate External hard disk drive in full mode which will overwrite the data with zeroes and ones. Similarly, you can also use DiskPart >> clean all command to clear hard disk drive. Data erased with these methods will be difficult to recover but not 100% impossible.
Let us now check how to erase data on Seagate external hard drive using these two methods in step by step process
Full format Hard Drive
Open File Explorer >> Right click on the Drive >> Select Format
Select File System and under Format options, Deselect Quick Format
Now click on Start button to start the process
Note : The time taken to fully format hard disk drive will take longer than quick mode, and will depend on the hard drive size. This method can be used to format external hard drive only, and not system hard drive
Use DiskPart Method
Open Command Prompt and run as administrator
Write diskpart and hit enter
Write list disk and hit enter
Write sel disk x and hit enter (x denotes the disk’s serial number)
Write clean all and hit enter to erase data on Seagate external hard drive
The above discussed two methods are good for erasing normal data. But if there is some confidential/sensitive data stored in the hard drive, you might require some more powerful and trustworthy data wiping solution.
How Do I Permanently Delete Files from My Seagate External Hard Drive in More Secure Way
SeaTools provides an integrated function called Seagate Instant Secure Erase (ISE) that resets the Seagate external hard drive to factory settings. It also modifies the encryption key to erase data permanently that remains stored on the hard drive. But the major problem is that it only works on Windows 8 or earlier editions, and the entire process is quite complicated for a non-technical user to follow.
Doing it erroneously may corrupt the external hard drive forever to make it unavailable for further use.
Therefore, the best solution to securely erase data from Seagate External hard drive is using CubexSoft Data Wipe Software. The best thing about this tool is its ability to work on all Windows OS editions – 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, etc. Additionally, the utility can be utilized for erasing data from all types external/internal hard disk drives, flash drives, USB drives of all brands.
The software is simple to use and doesn’t need any special skills to use it. Users can simply follow the step-by-step procedure to successfully erase data from Seagate external hard drive, without any problems at all. The tool provides 10+ data wiping options to choose from. It even lets them use advance filters to wipe only required data, as they desire. Moreover, it automatically generates a log report of the entire data wiping process to keep a record for future reference.
How to Clear My Seagate External Hard Drive? Know Step by Step Process
First connect your Seagate external hard drive to the computer system
After successful installation, open the software and choose any option to wipe data from
Files and folders – to wipe files and folders from external hard drive
Logical drives – to completely erase Seagate external hard drive
Now select Files/folders using Select Files or Select Folders buttons respectively and click on Next
The software displays the list of all selected files and folders in exact hierarchical order. Select the required ones that you want to erase by clicking on their respective checkboxes.
You can also use advance filters option to apply required filters to erase data selectively
After choosing the required data and filters, click on Next button
Now choose the required data wiping option and hit wipe button
A warning message will appear that data once deleted will not be recovered back. Click on OK button to start the process
After successful completion of the process, a new message window will open and display “Data wipe process successfully completed” message.
Conclusion
In the above blog post, we have tried to discuss different methods to help users learn how to erase data on Seagate external hard drive. The manual methods include formatting the hard drive and using diskpart commands, but they may not be the secure methods. Using expert Data Wipe Software, you can easily wipe Seagate External hard drive data using 10+ data wiping options, without leaving any trace. It provides the best solution to erase sensitive information and ensure data privacy.
