Active@ KillDisk vs Parted Magic
Active@ KillDisk
killdisk.com
Parted Magic
partedmagic.comSide by side
| Figure | Active@ KillDisk | Parted Magic |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $4.92/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 22 | 6 |
| Spec score · Disk Wiping Software | 9.3 (#1) | 7.4 (#21) |
| Spec score · Data Destruction Software | 9.3 (#1) | 7.5 (#10) |
| Spec score · Data Erasure Software | 9.3 (#1) | 7.3 (#12) |
| Headquarters | Mississauga, Ontario, Canada | Waupaca, Wisconsin, United States |
| Intended users | The maker identifies home users, businesses, IT departments, ITAD providers, electronics recyclers, refurbishers, government organizations, healthcare providers, and large enterprises as audiences. | The maker describes uses for IT asset disposal, system administration, disk recovery and forensics, and home disk-management tasks. |
| Reporting | Paid editions support PDF certificates and XML reports, with customizable reports and options to encrypt or digitally sign PDF certificates. | The PM Report Server can receive erase status and evidence over a local network, and supports email, webhook, and ntfy alerts. |
| Support | Technical support is available through a ticket, and the maker lists phone support at +1 (877) 403-8082 and +1 (905) 812-8434. | For purchase support, the maker asks customers to reply to their order confirmation email and says to allow one to two business days for a reply. |
| System requirements | Published requirements include Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10/11 64-bit, supported Windows Server releases, 600 MB storage and at least 512 MB RAM. | The stated minimum requirement is a 64-bit x86 processor and at least 2 GB of RAM. |
Plans
Active@ KillDisk
- Personal Professional$64.95, paid once
- Personal Suite$79.95, paid once
- Personal Ultimate$119.95, paid once
- Corporate Professional$84.95, paid once
- Corporate Suite$109.95, paid once
- Corporate Ultimate$149.95, paid once
- Site Professional$1,999, paid once
- Site Suite$2,299, paid once
- Site Ultimate$3,999, paid once
- FreewareFree
Parted Magic
- Enterprise Compliance LicensePriced on request
- Quarterly Subscription$19 a month
- Single Version$19, paid once
- One Year Subscription$59 a year
- Parted Magic Forever$349, paid once
- Parted Magic Enterprise Compliance License$1,750, paid once
In their own words
Active@ KillDisk
Active@ KillDisk permanently erases data from HDDs, SSDs, NVMe disks, USB drives and other storage media. It is available for Windows, Linux and macOS, with bootable media for Windows PE, Linux and console environments. The product lists more than 25 sanitization standards, including NIST 800-88 and DoD 5220.22-M. The freeware edition uses only the One Pass Zeros method, allows two parallel erases and lacks batch scripting and post-erase verification. Paid editions list erase verification, resuming interrupted erases, PDF certificates and XML reports; professional editions also list batch scripting that can run without user interaction. Some editions include low-level ATA Secure Erase for SSDs. The comparison also lists remote monitoring and HTTP process control through a Web Service, plus export of operation journals to external databases. Personal Professional costs $64.95, paid once; Personal Suite costs $79.95, paid once. Commercial and site licenses have separate listed prices. The maker describes the tool for home users, businesses, IT departments, recyclers, refurbishers, government and healthcare organizations, among others.
Parted Magic
Parted Magic is paid, bootable Linux software for managing storage from USB, optical disc, or PXE. It requires a 64-bit x86 processor and at least 2 GB of RAM, and supports UEFI Secure Boot, legacy BIOS, and Intel-based Mac hardware. Its tools securely erase ATA, NVMe, SAS/SCSI, and eMMC/SD drives, choosing methods according to drive capabilities. Successful erases produce signed PDF destruction certificates, with exportable cryptographically signed evidence packs. The maker says sanitization follows NIST SP 800-88 Revision 2 and technology-specific methods conform to IEEE 2883. VisParted handles MBR and GPT layouts, filesystem operations, partition moves, and conversion between MBR and GPT. Parted Magic Clone copies disks, partitions, and images while keeping the source read-only and creating verification certificates. Workflows can use local, USB, SSH, Samba, and NFS targets, plus multicast deployment with udpcast. PM Report Server receives status and evidence over a local network and can send email, webhook, or ntfy alerts. It is not an installable Windows application.