DBANfor Windows

DBAN or Darik’s Boot and Nuke, designed to clean, and wipe your hard drive. As a result of what this program can do, you need to spend some time getting to know the functionality. DBAN is the best free program for data cleansing.

Free data destruction

Follow the steps on the main menu and you can clean or destroy any drive you wish.

DBAN is easy to install but requires you to burn to disc or run from a portable media device. This isn’t a big issue, and even a complete novice could follow the steps to achieve this. Once installed, the power of this tool is clear to see.

You can wipe all the data from your hard drive with this. It doesn’t matter if you have partitions or how many files there are on the drive. DBAN can clear everything. A word of caution here. It cannot see solid-state drives, and as a result, cannot format the data from this type of drive.

DBAN works by physically overwriting each piece of data on the selected drive. Even the number one data recovery program can’t retrieve any of the data once DBAN has done its job. The files are completely irretrievable once processed.

You need to make sure you follow the steps carefully if you want to run from a USB flash drive. There is a tutorial that simplifies the process. Once you have the program running the rest is straightforward. 

Where can you run this program?

This program runs on all operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. It does need a CD or flash drive to install.

Is there a better alternative?

No, the other alternatives such as Evidence Eliminator are expensive. DBAN does the same job but for no cost. Blancco drive eraser shares many of the same qualities but it is not free.

Our take

If you need to clear your hard drive or have a regular need to destroy data, then this program is for you. It will give you everything you need, and it won't cost you a penny.

Should you download it?

Yes, you should download it. The alternatives are expensive. Although there is little support from the program developers, there is much detail available from other users.