How To Wipe The Data From The Storage Media Inside A Printer?

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 BitRaser Drive Eraser ISO file

• Log in to your BitRaser cloud account.
• Click 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 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:

1. Collect the hard drives you need to wipe and mount them in the storage rack
2. Plug the storage rack to a display machine
3. Insert the bootable USB into the storage rack
4. Turn ON the machine and press the Function keys to enter the Boot Menu
5. 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
6. Select BitRaser from the dropdown menu and press Enter to start BitRaser Drive Eraser.
   • The next screen displays all the storage drives connected to the host machine. All the storage drives shown at this stage are available for wiping.

     

     
     Image 3: BitRaser Drive Eraser Home screen showing the drives available for wiping

7. 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 successful erasure of the hard disks, the software will generate digitally signed reports & certificate of erasure and save them automatically to your BitRaser Cloud account.