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ShredOS Instructions

Please note: SHREDOS Hard Drive Eraser Is Very Powerful Software.  It will irrecoverably wipe and destroy all of the data on your hard drive.  You will NOT be able to restore the data.

 You MUST boot your computer directly from your USB Flash Drive or DVD Disc in order for you to be able to use the software.  If you boot into your Windows or other operating system, you will NOT be able to use this software to wipe your hard drive.

Important: It can take anywhere from 1 hour to 20 hours to wipe your data.  This depends very much on the size of the hard drive as well as the amount of data that has to be securely wiped.

In order for your computer to boot from a DVD drive or USB Stick, you must set your DVD or USB Stick as the FIRST BOOT device in your BIOS or use the boot menu. For Dell computers the most common hotkey for the boot menu is F12.  Other computers use the F9 key.  There is always a little message on the monitor when you first boot up your PC that lets you know which key you have to press to get to the BIOS or BOOT MENU.  The BOOT MENU is where you can select which device you would like to load.  If you have the Linux DVD, you’ll want to select the DVD Drive.  If you have the Linux USB Drive, you will need to select that drive instead.

You must restart your PC and select the ShredOS USB drive or DVD Disc you just inserted as the boot device. You may need to hold down the Delete, Enter, F12, or whichever key your device prompts you to open the boot menu. Once booted, you'll see a bunch of options for Nwipe, the software package ShredOS uses to do the actual wiping. The options range from fast disk wipes to more thorough ones that take more time.

To wipe your disk in a way that's sufficient for home users, use the arrow keys to select the storage device to be wiped, and press the space bar to toggle the "Wipe" option.
Preparing ShredOS to wipe a hard drive.

Then press the M key on your keyboard to select the wipe method and choose "DoD Short". Press the Space bar to confirm the wipe method selection. You can optionally press V to change whether the wipe is verified—it will be default. The rest of the options can be left as-is, but at any stage the available commands are always displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Choosing ShredOS options for wiping a hard drive.
When you're ready to completely wipe the contents of the selected storage device, double-check all of your selections, and then press the Shift+S key combination to start the process. Once those keys are pressed, the data wipe process will begin without further confirmation.

And that's it! Depending on the size and type of your storage device, it might take some time for the secure wipe process to complete. Once you're done shredding, it's highly recommended that you format your USB stick so that you can't accidentally boot into it unintentionally.