Active@ KillDisk for Mac is an easy-to use & compact freeware utility that allows to sanitize attached media storage with the 24 international data sanitizing standards.It permanently erases all data on Hard Disks, Solid State Drives, Memory Cards & USB drives, SCSI storage & RAID disk arrays. Freeware version installation package (dmg) includes executable, being able to run on iMac, MacBook. Supports preliminary Disk Examination for bad sectors & Examine Grading: Displays and monitors health status for all disks based on a S.M.A.R.T. Info: Disk sectors and volumes can be inspected on a low level in advanced Disk Viewer: Controls or stops erase process based on S.M.A.R.T. Parameters and disk erase. No.5 disk formatting tool for Windows and Mac – Paragon Disk Wiper. Paragon Disk Wipe allows you to create a bootable USB-flash drive or external hard drive that will help you to completely erase a whole hard disk, a separate partition or just clean free space. It is the reliable disk formatting tool for Windows/Mac. You can erase a disk or volume at any time, including in circumstances such as these: You want to quickly and permanently erase all content from your Mac and restore it to factory settings, such as when you're selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac.; You're changing the format of a disk, such as from a PC format (FAT, ExFAT, or NTFS) to a Mac format (APFS or Mac OS Extended).
Looking to sell an old computer and want to wipe the hard drive clean before you sell it? Whatever your reason may be, there are lots of programs out there that can help you to not only erase the data on a hard drive, but erase it in such a way that it can never be recovered again. If you have a lot of sensitive information, perform a secure wipe of your hard drive is highly recommended.
Disk Wipe by www.diskwipe.org is a freeware application that will help you securely delete data from your hard drive. Even though Disk Wipe for Mac is not available for download, you can try other similar tools instead. Here is a list of apps that can serve as replacements for Disk Wipe for Mac.
A secure wipe basically performs a low-level format so that the entire disk is overwritten with 0’s. Other software will write junk data multiple times over the disk so that there is no trace of what was there before. Either way, no one is going to be able to get the original data off the hard drive because it’ll be completely gone.
In this post, I’ll mention five fairly popular programs that you can use to really erase a hard disk properly. There are so many good free programs, that it’s really not necessary to spend any money on doing something like wiping a hard drive. You’ll pretty much get the same results using freeware.
DBan (Darik’s Boot and Nuke)
![Disk Erase For Mac Disk Erase For Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126362797/283911457.png)
This is probably the most popular program and is basically a self-contained boot disk. Create a bootable CD using CDBurnerXP or whatever burning program you like and boot to the CD when prompted after restarting your computer.
You can choose from different wipe methods including Gutmann Wipe, Department of Defense Short and Medium and others. I’ve used this program several times and have found that it does an excellent job erasing data on many different types of hard drives. If, for some reason, DBan does not work for you, you can try out the other programs mentioned below.
KillDisk
KillDisk comes in two flavors: Free and Professional. The professional version is definitely better than DBan in terms of options, but it’s not worth shelling out $40 or $50. The free version only has one way to delete the data on a hard drive (erasing with one-pass zeroes), but it’s still good enough for a decent hard drive wipe. Definitely DBan is better since you can use the DoD 5220.22-M protocol.
If you do purchase the program, then you have a great set of 17 choices for deleting your data:
You can use the program from within Windows directly, via DOS or use bootable media so you can wipe any disk whether it was running Windows, Linux, OS X, etc. If you need to erase a large number of disks, it might be worth the monetary investment, otherwise you’re good with the free version.
Disk Wipe
Another good freeware app is Disk Wipe. The only downside is that it is a Windows app, so you have to run it from within an already existing operating system, whereas the other two mentioned above can be booted to using a CD or floppy disk. And since it’s a Windows app, it can really only erase hard drives that are Windows formatted (NTFS, FAT32, FAT, etc).
However, if that is not a problem for you, then the program is great! It’s portable and doesn’t require any installation, so you can carry it around on a USB stick or just email it to yourself. It can wipe hard drives, memory sticks, SD cards, etc.
It also supports the advanced algorithms like DoD 5220-22.M, US Army, and Peter Guttman.
Mac Disk Utility Can't Erase
Eraser
Another program that is similar to Disk Wipe is Eraser. The software is open-source and is routinely updated. The latest version supports Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. Again, the downside is that it only supports the Windows operating system and can only erase the data on drives that support Windows.
Eraser does not support as many advanced algorithms as the other programs mentioned above and is therefore not the best option if you really need to securely erase your hard drive. It’s a free option and does the job, but there is more risk using this program.
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126362797/604019993.png)
HDD Low Level Format Tool
This program is free, but has a speed cap on it, which is around 180GB per hour. If you spend a whopping $3, you can get the program without any speed cap. It supports SATA, IDE, SCSI, SAS, USB and Firewire drives, which is nice.
Erase Disk For Time Machine
Again, like the last two mentioned, it only supports the Windows operating system, so if you have a hard drive from a different operating system, you’ll have to plug it into the Windows PC you are using.
Overall, your best options are DBan and KillDisk for really getting just about any hard drive wiped with the highest level of security. If those don’t work for you or the cost is too much, you can try any of the other three programs mentioned.
Is there a program that you use to wipe data securely? If so, post a comment here and let us know. Enjoy!