Wiping, as a hard drive

ERASING

Think of what you might do to remove all data permanently from a device before selling it—this action starts with an "E.

The clue "Wiping, as a hard drive" hints at the action of completely removing data, which is what "erasing" means in computing. The wordplay is straightforward—"wiping" is a synonym for "erasing," and the phrase "as a hard drive" narrows it to the tech context. It’s a direct definition without hidden tricks, relying on common terminology for deleting files permanently.