Although DBAN has not been maintained for some time, the free tool is still considered effective.
Step 1: First, create a bootable USB stick with DBAN. When you insert it, DBAN will start before booting your operating system. You can read through the instructions and then press [Enter] to start.
Step 2: In the following menu, use the arrow keys to select either the entire hard drive for deletion or individual partitions. Confirm the selection by pressing the space bar.
Step 3: Press [M] to select the desired method of deletion. You can select a single overwrite or multiple overwrites with multiple patterns. The following methods are available for selection:
- Quick Wipe: Overwrite with zeros
- Canadian RCMP TSSIT OPS-II Standard: Overwrite with random patterns of ones and zeros.
- DoD Short: Overwrite three times with ones, zeros, or random patterns
- DoD 52220,22-m Standard: Overwrite seven times with random patterns
- Gutmann Method: Overwrite 35 times with random patterns
- PRNG Stream: Overwrite once with random data
Step 4: Start the selected wipe process by pressing [F10]. The process requires a longer time. You should exit the program only after successful deletion.