Alan Shore, The spec's say Yes.
Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8/ 10/ Server 2003/2008/2012 (x32/x64)
Most laptops have a restore to original built in.
First clean all you personal data and after that Restore the laptop to it's original state. Look in the manual or the site of the maker of the laptop.

Thanks TK, that was a handful of information to digest.

TK, "If there is NO factory restore option"
Maybe look for another HD to replace, new?
Look up the keys of the old Windows and install a complete new Windows on a new HD.
No change of leftovers from your own files.

Paul S,

Erasing a conventional hard drive involves multiple passes writing new data to each storage location. This doesn't work so well with an SSD... 1) there's a separate operation to clear data, that must be done before new data can be written a storage location that already stores data, so the overwriting part is useless. 2) SSDs typically try to use each storage location equally, so you don't have some wearing out and others that are hardly used. This wear balancing, plus extra storage in case some storage locations start to go bad, means that you can have data stored that's basically lost -- the drive doesn't know where or what it is -- but that might be recoverable. SSD manufacturers often have special software, &/or build features into their drive firmware to handle that, so the 1st step when you want to clear an SSD should be the SSD's manufacturer. If you don't have any luck going that route, there are generic apps that may work -- Google.

mike, thank you so much for your response. It is much appreciated.
However, I wasn't looking to totally erase the SSD, just to clean up my tracks as I go, just as I used to with a conventional HD using CCleaner? I used to clean the old business HD once a week or so as I had to ensure that various project information had been deleted beyond recovery. The CC used to clean up the Internet footprint as well, which was a great benefit.
Is there a cleaner which can do the same for SSD - perhaps even this Macrorit software, which seems quite attractive and easy to use?

Paul S,
Yes, Data Wiper is able to wipe SSD,
but with TRIM enabled on your SSD, you don't have to wipe it, simple deletion is good enough to make sure no data residue and "SSDs have a limited number of write cycles, and wiping them will use up write cycles with no benefit".

Read more on howtogeek: https://www.howtogeek.com/115573/htg-explains-why-you-only-have-to-wipe-a-disk-once-to-erase-it/

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[ Hankus ],

Are you saying you opened the document and it's contents are there, or are you saying you see the filename, but haven't tried opening the document?
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Hankus,
This function requires file size to be at least 1kb

Gb, just manually copy the /portable/ folder to the USB will do, if you want to make that USB bootable, use the bootable media function to create the ISO file, and burn it to USB with Rufus

Peter Blaise, more than likely the drive needs to be initialized after a wipe to build either the Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID partition table. After physically installing the drive: Control Panel (not in category view) > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management. Hopefully you should see the drive with no partitions. Right click the icon marked Disk x and select initialize which should be almost instant, now create your partitions, format, and you should be good to go. Sorry if this isn't exact as it's from memory but should be pretty close. Good luck.

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[ Zarf ],

Thanks, yes, using Microsoft GUI or text-based tools to "initialize" and partition and format a drive, or using any independent tools to do the same SHOULD work on any drive that is new or used or supposedly "wiped" by software that "simply" overwrites the existing data on the drive.

But if the drive reports no drive in the drive, then none of those tools can even get started.

I tried the drive manufacturer tools and got the same "no drive" results.

Booting to CMOS BIOS recognized the drive ... though now I can't remember if the size reported was accurate, maybe it could it have been 0 bytes, yet without boot-report errors?

So, what I'm asking is:

Has anyone actually personally themselves successfully re-used a drive AFTER wiping it with Macrorit's "entire drive or disk" drive-wipe feature?

( Perhaps the drive I was handed that was supposedly "wiped" by some sort of software was actually bulk erased with a videotape demagnetizer ! ? ! )

Thanks.
.

Peter Blaise, I just wiped a drive. After that I used compmgmt.msc (computer management) to initialize the drive again to use it.

Peter Blaise,

Normally Wiping a conventional hard drive writes something to every storage location -- it can be all 0s or random data or whatever -- often multiple times [using multiple passes], in case the mechanically operated write head(s) missed something in a previous pass. Tolerances are very tight, but the heads can still move the slightest bit right or left, so if data's written when a head is all the way right, but overwritten when the same head's all the way left, it may miss some of the original data -- multiple passes greatly reduce the odds of something getting missed. Since you're just writing to the hard drive, there's nothing it can do to damage the drive, unless the drive is already trash & all this writing pushes it over the edge.

An SSD requires two operations to overwrite data -- 1st the storage location must be cleared, & then new data can be written there. This would slow things down whenever the SSD tried to use storage that previously held a now deleted file, so SSDs clear those storage locations proactively -- it's called Trim. You might think then that all you have to do to wipe a SSD is delete everything & then run a Trim operation -- there are no heads of any kind that might have a tiny amount of play -- but wear leveling throws you a curve. Since every storage location can only be written to a finite number of times, an SSD will try to never write data in the same place, plus there are a number of storage locations held in reserve, just in case some of those in use start to go bad. Long story short, with an SSD you may have data stored somewhere that's sort of lost -- tables in the drive's firmware don't show it, but it's there.

A conventional hard drive usually has extra storage too, and when extra storage takes the place of bad storage, that bad storage might still hold data. So hard drive makers may build special features into their firmware, or have special software, to get rid of all data, whether it's location is known or not. Developers have also written generic software utilities to activate that sort of feature on many brands and models of drives. As the primary goal is to get rid of data, not make the drive (re)usable, it's possible sometimes this sort of software gets it wrong, and the drive is unusable afterward.

If that happened, the only way I can think of at the moment to rescue the drive would be through the manufacturer, e.g. (re)flashing the firmware, or maybe they have special software to reinitialize the firmware to it's original state.

Peter Blaise, "re-used a drive AFTER wiping it with Macrorit's "entire drive or disk" drive-wipe feature?"
Never I have used Macrorit drive-wipe.
But I do have emptied 6 HD in the Win98 days with Fdisk. These were disk's for a test and after that, these disk were again used for other computer-tests.
And from time to time I reformat disk and also erase all partitions witdh a disk-manager. And after that assign different paritions on it, no trouble att all.
And also one time a disk had some trouble from the start, (6 years old).
After formatting, partioning etc still trouble. Disk was gone.
If the first sectors are damaged, a disk can be hardly used. With some trics it can be used. But it is a sign, that the disk is be dying.
OR your disk was a GPT-disk, some other configuration than MBR. And that is another story:
https://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/
You also can try Gparted live. CD or USB.
For safety disconnect the normal Windows drive's (remove current/data-cable) and connect the patient. See BIOS if the drive is recognized.
Start the PC with a Gparted Live and give it a try.
Also a normal Linux Live can be used.
Be safe and disconnect all the GOOD HD. I made a mistake once after Fdisk 5 HD's and the six-one: the system disk had a Fdisk-operation. Next day I got a call from my boss, why is the PC not running anymore. He had to install everything.

Peter Blaise, "Never I have used Macrorit drive-wipe."
I just wiped a HD, an old one:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xljs64sip7o4z3n/Patient.png
Using the Boot-version of the GOTD-program and wiped the whole disk:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5c0jo4fvardjbr6/DiskWipe.png
The progress and result:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/18xmev0c48bha28/Progress.png
And the disk is not initialized:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fezyiy4qv2lfr71/Result.png
After restart in Win8.1 the drive is not listed:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/thgy119nk3xjgow/Explorer.png
And just like Sammy said, used Disk management:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h1y31ccdw78sumw/DiskManagement.png
After that the disk is listed in the explorer:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m2p2b1zn06tib7k/Listed.png?dl=0
And in a free partitionmanager there is an option to convert from GPT to MBR:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9necf3odas5ek04/PartitionManager.png
Ootje

Peter Blaise, You can use Gparted live (free) to reinitialize any HDD (ssd excluded).

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Wow, [ Ootje ], [ Mike ], [ Sammy ] and [ Zarf ],

Thanks -- great explorations and sharing.

Bottom line:

Today's giveaway probably will leave a wiped drive useable again, but may need re-initializing, partitioning, and formatting.

However, there may still be user data recoverable by forensic hackers if the drive remapped bad sectors and or if you only wiped within partitions but missed data outside current partitions, perhaps in prior partitions that eventually became unpartitioned space.

SSDs are another story.

Addendum: SLACK - I see not offering to wipe file slack, that is, when a file does not use the entire space allocated to it, old data remains unerased in the "slack" space after the end of the file ... so be aware that forensic hackers may still find data you thought may have been erased.
__________

I hope ALL vendors read these GOTD user comments, as we reveal ourselves to be an incredibly knowledgeable, savvy, hard-working, willing, and generous bunch of resources for each other, and vendors would do well to recognize a genuine treasure trove we are.
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Peter Blaise,
You can try Macrorit Partition Expert to initialize the disk and create partitions
here is the Free Edition

Sim,
If you've already wiped free space, then there's no need to do that again in Data Wiper
This program is also helpful when you wipe the entire disk or the operating system :)

which one should use to install for 64-bit?

noble, I just installed the 64-bit portable version on a flash drive. (I tried installing the Windows version and Windows Defender blocked it. I opted for the portable version instead.)

noble, use the /x64/ package

Aredub,
Hi, We just tried the installation package, Windows Defender won't show alert,
would you mind sending us a screenshot? Thanks for your help, support@macrorit.com