WipeDrive 6 systemSAVER

It worked, but only after I followed tips from another reviewer. I kept getting an invalid loop error and it would hang up there. Someone suggested to immediately remove the disk as soon as the restart begins in order to get the software to work and that did the trick for me. I’d tried following the written instructions several times and it got hung up every time. Very thankful for the review that had the work around. I was using on an old Vista 64 laptop.

I am giving this two stars because technically part of the program worked. I was expecting to wipe the drive using the OS saver option with this software, and then simply use the system set to default afterwards. Instead it deleted everything off the hard drive. The software was used on a Compaq that had Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit. The system saver option was selected, but the operating system was completely wiped from the drive.Anyone who wants to install an operating system on a blank drive may find this helpful. However, I am no computer professional so you may want to consider contacting one or doing research on the web. I ended up buying a full version windows vista operating system and installing that. This method applies to the Full Version Windows Vista Ultimate, but may be similar for other systems. I downloaded the ethernet driver to a USB and installed it on the Compaq. This allowed the computer to access internet via ethernet cable. To find the correct driver Control Panel>System Maintenance>Device Manager and the device that requires the driver will be under Network Adapters. Then I downloaded sp1 and sp2 off the Microsoft website. Download the 32bit or 64bit version depending on which operating system you use. I then ran updates using Control Panel>Security>Check for Updates. Make sure to reboot the computer after new updates and installs. I also had to find a driver for the wireless adapter, which required searching drivers compatible with the specific wireless adapter part in that notebook (example: Atheros Wireless LAN). Ran updates again. Reboot. Interestingly I had to press and hold the wireless button on the front of the computer and enter the wireless key before releasing the button to connect wirelessly. Weird Compaq. Anyway find any missing drivers or use a program off the web like DriverMender. From there, it is just adjusting settings for your computer.

I have tried this once so far to remove all personal files. It took quite a long time to complete, which is fine considering I chose the DOD-approved erasure method). It deleted what seemed to be a very large number of directories (in the thousands) and files (in hundreds of thousands). I really don't think I had that many "personal" directories or files on my hard disk. However, after it cleaned up the files, I could not find the ones I knew about -- those under Documents, Pictures, etc. I am giving it 3 stars for now because: 1) It's not clear to me where it finds the files/directories it is deleting. It may be good for the software manufacturer to explain what it considers personal files and folders it cleans up. 2) I did not do anything to confirm the files were unrecoverable afterwards as I dismantled the entire hard disk. So, I cannot be sure it did exactly what it is advertised to do. 3) The only options available seem to be to delete personal files or system files. I did not see an option to specify just a single file or directory to be deleted. I have not given up on this software yet. I will experiment more and will update this review if I find anything that addresses my three concerns.

I wish I had purchased this BEFORE spending $$$ at my local computer retailer who claimed to be able to 'fix' my PC virus problems. WipeDrive did what I wanted them to do much easier and faster for a whole lot less. WipeDrive Six gives you serveral options - wipe the entire operating system and all the stuff that goes with it OR wipe while saving the OS and all programs. As a precaution I saved all files and documents to an external hard drive then made sure I had all the re-install disks for the operating system, drives/devices (in my case Windows Vista) and any other software programs. Make sure you have at least between three to eight hours to spend on the process. Boot up, put the disk in and follow the steps. I tired both options -first saving OS and programs however this took about three hours because Windows had a problem (darn Windows). The OS and programs were saved and everything else was gone but the PC was still not functioning properly. So I tried the other option - wipe everything. This was the simpliest thing ever! It only took one hour to wipe. Then I spent about another two hours re-installing only what I needed. It's been a week now and my PC runs like a brand new Dell computer with a faster connection to the Internet. WipeDrive got rid of all the junk I no longer wanted as well as any virus/spyware issues. Hey, you fix-it-geek guys at the computer retail store you owe me a refund!

I actually keep most of my old computers. But if you have any with irreparable hardware, or if these machines are taking up too much space, Wipedrive from White Canyon software is what you need. With the advent of internet banking, you may have an old hard drive that needs to be completely erased. What this CD-ROM can do is boot your machine without the OS, and then in a step by step procedure randomly rewrite your entire hard drive (or multiple drives) with ones and zeros at each address, rendering any trace of the old data completely incomprehensible.The Wipedrive software gives you the option to remove the old OS if it is no longer supported, or to preserve the OS if the computer is in good enough condition to give to charity. Wipedrive also uses the same data destruction methodology as the US Department of Defense.

I used Wipedrive application to completely erase a number of external hard disks that I'm planning to sell. I wanted to go beyond formatting in order to ensure that any residual personal information was completely removed.It took a fair amount of time to perform the wipe for each drive but I'm confident that no residual data remains.