How to Wipe Synology NAS Drives: Secure Data Erase Guide

Mark Regan
Published: June 23rd, 2026 • 5 Min Read

Summary: If you are selling your unit or clearing your NAS drives, knowing how to fully wipe a Synology NAS drive is important. This guide gives you the information and steps needed to securely erase all data from your drives using both built-in tools and also by manually erasing them on Windows or Mac computers.

TL;DR:

Use Synology’s internal “Secure Erase” in Storage Manager for simplicity.
Remove drives to perform a full disk format via Windows Disk Management or macOS Disk Utility for complete data destruction.

When upgrading your storage, many of us have old drives that still contain sensitive personal or business data. If you are unsure on how to successfully wipe your old Synology NAS drives, rest assured you are not alone. Just deleting files does not guarantee the data will be unrecoverable. To guarantee that the data will not be recoverable, you need to overwrite every byte of data across the entire capacity of the drive.

What Does It Really Mean to Wipe a Synology NAS Drive?

Once you know how to erase a Synology NAS drive, you can guarantee that your digital history will be eliminated. To learn how to securely erase a drive, you will be overwriting all of the binary data on the drive, making it impossible to recover any of the old data with any normal data recovery programs.

Do This Before You Touch That Erase Button

Backup all critical data to an external hard drive.
Log into your DSM account as an Administrator.
Find the drive bay of the drive you wish to wipe.
Make sure that you have a SATA to USB Adapter for manual format

The Hands-On Guide to Wiping Your Synology Drives

Method 1: Secure Erase via Synology DSM

The safest way to know how to wipe Synology NAS drives is through the built-in system.

Go to Main Menu > Storage Manager > HDD/SSD.
Select the Target Drive.
Click the Action button (or the three-dot icon … depending on sub-version).
Select Secure Erase.

Note: This method will not work on an active drive. If the drive belongs to a functioning storage pool or volume, or if it holds the primary system partition, the Storage Pool must be degraded or deleted first. “Secure Erase” option will be grayed out and unclickable in this scenario.

If your objective is to wipe the entire Synology NAS unit (e.g., to sell or decommission the box), it is best to use the native, built-in global wipe utility located at Control Panel > Update & Restore > System Reset > Factory Reset (Erase All Data). Though this feature re-formats data partitions and resets DSM but does not execute a military-grade multi-pass overwrite (like DoD 5220.22-M) which is implemented by a professional data wiping utility, BitRecover.

Method 2: Wiping on Windows

First of all, backup any important data that you may have because this process is irreversible.
Run Command Prompt (cmd) as Administrator.
Type diskpart and press Enter.
Then type list disk which will list all the disks connected.
After that, type select disk [number] where number represents the disk that needs to be erased.
Type clean all and hit Enter.

Note: Before implementing this step, connect the NAS drive using powered external hard drive dock or enclosure as standard USB adapter cables may not be able to provide sufficient power for the task.

Method 3: Wiping on Mac

To execute a secure block-level wipe on a Mac regardless of drive type or firmware restrictions, launch macOS Terminal to run the programmatic command: diskutil secureErase 0 /dev/diskX (where 0 is a single-pass zero-fill).

The BitRecover Data Wipe Wizard utility is an effective professional Data Erasure tool that safeguards your sensitive data from dangerous threats like Identity Theft, Phishing Attacks & the like. It implements 15+ military-grade wiping methods for securely and permanently erasing data from your storage media, making it irrecoverable.

Download Now
Purchase Now

FAQ

Q: How long does it take to secure erase a Synology disk?

A: HDD – 6 to 12 hours. SSD – Much quicker.

Q: Will a simple factory reset delete my data?

A: No; resetting factory defaults only resets the device’s configurations; you need a different software to erase data from the system.

Q: Can I perform an erasure using a third-party product?

A: Yes; you are able to use the USB ports on your Synology device to perform Manual Formatting which would allow you to also wipe your Synology device using third-party software.

The Last Word on Wiping Your NAS

Secured erasure of your data is a must! Regardless if you are using the DSM Secure Erase feature or manually formatting your data on your computer or Mac, the steps above will help keep your data private and secured. Always make sure to back-up your data before performing a secured erase.