Applies to: All editions
Selection principles
Selecting the correct physical device is the most important operator control. A wrong selection can irreversibly destroy unrelated data.
Do not select a device solely because it is displayed as PhysicalDrive1, Disk 1, or another temporary index. Those values can change after reboot, hot-plugging, controller discovery, or firmware changes.
Recommended procedure
- Obtain the approved asset list or sanitization ticket.
- Disconnect unrelated removable storage where practical.
- Refresh the DriveErase device list.
- Locate the target by model, serial number, capacity, bus, enclosure or bay, and asset label.
- Confirm that the target is not marked as the system disk.
- Select the device.
- Review the per-device settings created for it.
- Repeat the identity check during the final confirmation.
For multi-device jobs, complete the identity and settings review for every selected device. Select All should be used only in a controlled system where every selectable non-system device is authorized for sanitization.
System-disk protection
DriveErase prevents selection of the active Windows system disk. This protection does not mean every other disk is safe to erase. Data disks, recovery disks, shared storage, removable media, and virtual disks can still contain required information.
Similar or duplicate devices
When several identical drives have the same capacity and weak or missing serial information:
- Identify the physical bay or connection one device at a time;
- Connect only the approved target where practical;
- Use controller management tools to map bay and device identity;
- Preserve a photograph or inventory record when required by the custody procedure.
Do not proceed when the identity cannot be established to the required assurance level.
Final confirmation
The restart confirmation is the last opportunity to stop the operation. Read every target and method entry. Cancel the job when any identity, method, health setting, or warning is unexpected.