HD Tune Pro manual

Erase

When files are deleted from a hard disk, the data is not actually erased. Only the references to those files are deleted.
By using recovery software it will be possible to recover many or all files after the files have been deleted or even after a full format. So if you sell, return or give away your hard disk someone may be able to recover sensitive data from the disk.

The erase function securely erases the disc by overwriting the entire contents of the disk with a specified pattern.

There are four different delete methods:
Zero fill (1 pass), random fill (1 pass), DoD 5220.22M (7 passes), Guttman (35 passes).
The zero and random fill should be sufficient for most purposes. For more securely deleting data you can use the other two methods.

Completely erasing the hard disk may take several hours. If you're using one of the multi-pass delete methods you can select at which pass the erasing should begin.
During the erase process write errors will be reported in a similar way as in the Error Scan function.

To prevent accidental data loss, the write test can only be performed on a disk with no partitions.
To remove all partitions go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management, right-click on the partitions on the hard disk you want to test and select delete partition.

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