To complete this step, you will need a USB thumb drive (or other external drive, like a memory card) with at least 2 GB capacity that you don't mind erasing.
Warning: The contents of the USB drive will be permanently erased!
From the Computers tab in EraseData, select Step 1 and click Continue. Place the USB drive in your computer and click Continue.
EraseData needs to make your USB drive bootable. In this step, it will download the files it needs.
Click the Download button. When it finishes, click Next.
EraseData will now format the USB drive.
Select your USB drive on the list and click Format. All data on the USB drive will be deleted.
Important: If you're in Windows, look for the Windows confirmation dialog. Sometimes it pops up behind EraseData.
When the formatting finishes, click Next.
EraseData will now copy the necessary files to the drive. Click Prepare to begin the process.
When the drive preparation is done, click Next.
What Is a Wipe? When you erase an entire drive, EraseData refers to it as a Wipe. There's a limit to how many full-drive wipes you can perform. EraseData will display your available drive wipes as Drive Wipes Left. If you need to add more wipes, click Add Wipes on the right. After adding wipes, you may need to click the Refresh button.
Allocate Wipes You now need to let EraseData know how many computers you plan to erase with the thumb drive. This is known as "allocating wipes" to the thumb drive.
Important: You need to allocate one wipe for each computer you plan to erase with the thumb drive. You can use the thumb drive many times. For instance: suppose you plan to erase 10 computers with the thumb drive. You must allocate 10 wipes. If you run out of allocated wipes, you will no longer be able to use the thumb drive until you allocate more wipes to it.
Select the number of wipes you wish to allocate to the thumb drive and click Allocate.
The thumb drive is now ready. For your next steps, see Step 2: Learn how to use the thumb drive.