How to Reset a Computer System and Permanently Wipe All Data

How Do I completely Reset My Computer And Delete Everything?

When you sell your computer you may feel that tossing files in the recycle bin and hitting factory reset will prevent all your personal data from being accessed by the new user or hackers. You may be entirely wrong on this, if the hacker finds the pattern your computer used to move 0s and 1s around and by reverse engineering the original state of your computer, a lot of important stuff can be retrieved. This article is an attempt to guide you all on how to wipe out all the data from your computer if the situation warrants you to do so.

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The most secure way out would be to properly factory reset before it goes to the next person. You have to take into consideration the following steps or else you can play safe by hiring a professional for this purpose.

Factory Reset: How Long Does a Factory Reset Take?

A factory reset basically means deleting something that wasn't on the device after it came out of production. This will make it impossible for you to access programs or files on your computer.

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You must remember that Factory resets leave data in hard drives and will continue to live until and unless your hard drive is overwritten with new data. Smashing up the hard drive is another feasible option in this context or destroying the magnetic field around a hard drive to destroy its data. A factory reset can give you a false sense of security which is something you should be wary of.

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If you have used your computer for playing games or for school work in your computer then there is very little risk in using a factory reset as your primary form of data removal. But in case the computer has been used for storing confidential information in that event it is recommended to bring in an expert to wipe out the data completely.

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How to Factory Reset a Mac

• It is important to ensure that you have backed up your key data in a cloud service.
• Log out of all services that you have been using.
• Make it a point to ensure that your computer is plugged in for the duration of the reset.
• You have to restart in recovery mode. Click and select restart, now when the computer shuts off and powers back on, you have to hold Command + R until you get to see the Apple logo 

Remember You Will No Longer See Your Usual Login Page, You will see a "macOS Utilities" Window.

• Choose disk utility > continue.
• Select the correct startup disc and select erase.
• Select MacOS Extended (Journaled) as the format.
• Now you have to  Click on erase
• Wait for the process to finish, then go to the Disk Utility menu > quit.
• If you want then you can reinstall MacOS.

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How Long Does a Factory Reset Take to Your PC

You got to repeat steps 1-3 as stated above then  Navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery. You should see a title that says “Reset this PC.” Click Get Started.    You can select Keep My Files or Remove Everything. The former reset your options to default and removes uninstalled apps, like browsers, but keeps the data intact. The latter will delete your files. Remember to back up your files in case something goes haywire.

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You got to  Use the Fresh Start option in Windows 10: Settings > Update & Security > Recovery page, After that click the link text "Learn how to start fresh with a clean installation of Windows at the bottom. This opens a Windows Defender Security Center window to the Fresh Start option. Click Get Started.

Why a Reset Sometimes Isn’t Enough

You need to know that inside your hard drive, there are two discs that look like a CD, known as platters meant to store videos & photos.

The platters basically store data on its circular surface in chunks of 1s & 0s. Platters can be explained as ceramic glass or aluminum and work like a recorder. Centered on a spindle, the platters rotate and an electronic current reads & writes data onto the surface. It is worth stating out here that the whole operation is being powered by Electronic components.

When you delete data from your computer by factory reset although the information is hidden from the computer  however, it gets stored on the hard drive. Hackers can retrieve such data especially if they resort to data forensic tools.

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Yes, people still discuss the most convenient way of destroying the data inside, but it is usually believed water, hydrochloric acid, magnets, or blunt objects can smash them easily.

These methods are not foolproof though. Hackers are even capable of extracting or retrieving stuff from the hard drives of laptops thrown into the water. So it's not easy to wipe out data fully until and unless all the necessary measures or steps required have been taken.

Yes, in case you decide to smash the platter then it's a different thing altogether. Be aware and alert while breaking the platters and do make it a point to wear safety glasses. When you are destroying the platter, you have to ensure that the platters can't spin, as it signifies that the contents can't be read. So it is a key point to be kept in mind.

In case you are contemplating the idea of reusing your hard drive in that event, a factory reset would be the best option. It is important to ensure that you don't have any comprising information on the hard drive the reason being, it could take a lot of time for new data to overwrite all of the old data on your drive therefore, this point must be given due importance without fail.

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Solid State Drives (SSD) 

The old computers are likely to have a hard drive disc signifying a slower version of data storage, on the other hand, new computers are modeled on a new standard known as Solid State Drive ( SSD) having a microchip you may picture inside of your phone against a green circuit board.

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An SSD can be regarded as a larger and more sophisticated version or form of a flash drive. Information is basically stored using microchips which are devoid of any moving platters. It must be highlighted here, that such a drive doesn't have the magnetic coating found in hard drive discs however, an SSD contains an embedded processor, its brain and interconnected memory chips capable of retaining data.

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Remember to destroy an SSD, you can't use a degausser, as no magnetic storage is there. What you can do is, you can physically destroy the device by using SSMD-2MM Solid State Media Disintegrator. This is regarded as a smart move on your part so you must keep it in mind.

How to Tell If You Have a Solid-State Drive

Otherwise, you can take the computer apart to check. If you don’t routinely work on this hardware, though, you’re better off checking out your hardware through the software menus.

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How to Recycle Computer Systems?

Once you have wiped your drive and smashed your computer then you must get in touch with a recycling company that will take away the parts. In case you have just done a software wipe and assuming your computer is intact in that event you can send your devices to companies like Best Buy, CyberCrunch, e-stewards, etc.

Conclusion

This article is an extensive article for knowing, how to wipe out data. As mentioned earlier, if you have not wiped out all the data, it can still be recovered by unauthorized persons, if they access your device. It's better to act smart and play safe. Carefully study this article and learn more about it.

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