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Erase the entire PC

Erase all internal disks of a PC including Windows and all programs, for example before you sell, return or dispose of the PC.

Windows and all internal disks are erased

All data, programs and the operating system are overwritten irrecoverably. Internal disks are always erased. Afterwards, the PC no longer starts Windows.

Prerequisites:

  • You have backed up all files you need, and license keys of installed programs, to an external drive.
  • External drives that you do not want to erase are disconnected, except the drive for the logs.
  • Fortress Mode is set up and the PC has been restarted into it.

Select the disks​

  1. In Fortress Mode, select Erase entire PC.
  2. Check every listed disk by name, capacity and type. Internal disks are always selected.
  3. Select the external disks that are to be erased as well.
  4. Under Save logs to:, select an external drive that is not erased, or Network share…; see Save the logs. Refresh searches the drives again, for example after you have plugged in a USB stick.
  5. Check the method. SSDs are erased with SolidErase when it is turned on in the settings.
  6. Select Next.

Confirm and start​

  1. Check the summary and the last warning.
  2. If needed, enter the Inventory number, the Disposition of the medium and the Protection requirement of the data for the erasure record.
  3. Enter the displayed security code.
  4. Select Erase entire PC now.

Result: All selected disks are overwritten. At the end, O&O SafeErase copies the logs and the report to the selected destination.

Before you switch off or restart the PC, check the result and the saved logs. Logs that are only in memory are lost on restart; save them with Save logs….

Initialize and format afterwards is not available for this task. To use a disk again, initialize it in the new installation, for example in Windows Disk Management.

Next steps​