How to Securely Erase Data from Microsoft Surface Devices?
March 31, 2022This KB helps you perform permanent data erasure on Microsoft Surface line of tablets and laptops using BitRaser Drive Eraser software. The application wipes all Surface devices be it Microsoft Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, Surface Go, Surface Laptop Go, Surface Studio, and Surface Book (all generations) beyond the scope of recovery.
In this KB we will provide you the step-by-step instructions on how to perform data erasure on Microsoft Surface devices.
Steps to Wipe Microsoft Surface Machine/s:
- Download ISO File for Creating a Bootable USB
- Burn BitRaser Drive Eraser ISO File to a USB Drive.
- Securely Erase Microsoft Surface
- Connect Bootable USB to Microsoft Surface to be Wiped
- Connect to BitRaser Cloud to Access Erasure Licenses
- Erase Drive of Microsoft Surface Machine and Save Report
Key Requirements:
Connectivity: WiFi/Ethernet
RAM: 1 GB Minimum (4 GB Recommended)
USB Device: 2 GB or more to create BitRaser bootable media
Let’s see the steps in detail.
Stage 1: Download ISO File for Creating a Bootable USB
- Login to your BitRaser cloud account post purchase with credentials received in the email. Click on the profile icon to download the ‘BitRaser Drive Eraser’ ISO file.
Stage 2: Burn BitRaser Drive Eraser ISO File to a USB Drive.
- Burn the downloaded ISO file of the software on a USB drive using a free utility to create a bootable drive.
(We recommend using the latest version of Rufus application)
- Follow the on-screen instructions on rufus application to begin the process of BitRaser ISO file writing on the USB drive.
Stage 3: Securely Erase Microsoft Surface
(a) Connect Bootable USB to Microsoft Surface to be Wiped
- Connect the bootable USB to the host Surface machine that needs to be wiped. Press and hold the volume up button on the Microsoft Surface laptop along with the power button. Release the volume up button as you see the Surface logo and spinning dots beneath the logo.
In the UEFI mode of the BIOS, select the bootable USB media and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Once the booting starts, a BitRaser Boot Menu will appear on your laptop screen. BitRaser is the default option, press enter to initialize BitRaser Drive Eraser.
- Once the application boots, you can see the internal NVMe drive of the Surface machine.
(b) Connect to BitRaser Cloud to Access Erasure Licenses
- For getting the erasure licenses, Connect the host machine to the Internet by clicking the Settings icon on the top. Login to BitRaser cloud via the BitRaser server tab. This will download the erasure licenses to your machine.
- Select the hard drive you wish to erase. Also, select the wiping algorithm (method of erasure) from the dropdown menu. Click erase and the wiping process will start.
(c) Erase Drive of Microsoft Surface Machine and Save Report
Once the erasure process is completed, the report will be automatically uploaded to your cloud server. Well done! You have successfully erased the Microsoft Surface Laptop.
You can follow our other KBs on How to Wipe SSDs and USB Drives to perform secure data erasure.
