You can permanently wipe the removable hard drive of a printer by using a professional data erasure tool. This software KB provides quick, step-wise instructions to erase the printer hard drive using BitRaser Drive Eraser software.
The tool wipes commercial workgroup-class printers and multi-function copiers from all leading brands such as Ricoh, HP, Epson, Dell, Brother, Canon, Xerox, and Lexmark.
Steps to wipe the hard drive of a printer by using BitRaser Drive Eraser:
BitRaser can start wiping the hard drive in less than 10 minutes. The tool can simultaneously erase up to 100 hard drives connected to a host machine through a storage rack. The following is a broad outline for using the software:
Note: Visit the BitRaser deployment guide for more detailed instructions.
Requirements
- Blank USB: 2 GB or more for creating a bootable wiping media
- Internet: Ethernet or Wi-Fi
- Printer hard disk: remove the drive from the printer as per the instructions in the user manual
- Storage rack for mounting the hard drive(s)
Stage 1: Download the BitRaser Drive Eraser ISO file
- Log in to your BitRaser cloud account.
- Click the Download BitRaser Drive ISO link in the dropdown menu on the top right
- Save the ISO file in your system
Image 1: BitRaser cloud account Home interface with the option to download the ISO file
Stage 2: Create BitRaser Drive Eraser bootable USB media
In this stage, you create a bootable USB media for erasing the printer's hard drive. You burn* BitRaser Drive Eraser ISO image on a USB drive by using Rufus –an-open source software widely used for creating bootable media. This bootable USB lets you wipe the HDD without installing the software.
*For detailed instructions on creating the BitRaser bootable USB media for drive erasure, refer to STAGE 2 of the deployment guide link mentioned in the Note section above.
Stage 3: Wipe the hard disk using BitRaser Drive Eraser bootable USB
This stage involves wiping the hard drive(s) by mounting them on a storage rack and connecting it to a display device (host machine), as follows:
- Collect the hard drives you need to wipe and mount them in the storage rack
- Plug the storage rack into a display machine
- Insert the bootable USB into the storage rack
- Turn ON the machine and press the Function keys to enter the Boot Menu
- Choose the USB option and click Enter to boot the system
- BitRaser Dual Boot menu screen will appear
Image 2: BitRaser Dual Boot Menu screen
- Select BitRaser from the dropdown menu and press Enter to start BitRaser Drive Eraser.
- Next, visit the BitRaser deployment guide for further instructions on how to wipe a single or multiple hard drives mounted in a storage rack.
After the successful erasure of the hard disks, the software will generate digitally signed reports & certificates of erasure and save them automatically to your BitRaser Cloud account.
