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I have an external ESATA drive I want to do more than zero, (I would rather clobber with random data, such as the U.S. Department of Defense disk wiping policy), that is free as in GNU/OSS.

Short hand requirements

  • Windows only, x64 preferred but not required.
  • No linux live-CD
  • No virtual OS creation
  • Free/OSS

Surely such software exists, or can exist but my google-foo could not locate it.

Perhaps Windows cannot actually do this? I would imagine it could with a non-system drive, at least.


This question is not an exact duplicate. The linked question (which I read fully before asking) says to use a linux utility. The linked question recommends two linux utilities, only, in the accepted answer! This question is specifically, clearly, and deliberately is asking for a windows only solution, which requires no linux or unix parts. So from my perspective, "exact duplicate" is provably inaccurate. What is the best way to appeal an improperly closed question?

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I agree that this should be un closed! I have the same question –  mjrider Apr 26 '11 at 19:33

1 Answer 1

Use HDD Low Level Format Tool and then Sdelete if you want a random re-write... its not necessary though. You should also run HDDScan afterwards.

If it has to be OSS you can use Eraser

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