"Wiping pc hard drive--how do I do it???" Topic
7 Posts
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| thedrake | 29 May 2009 6:37 p.m. PST |
What is procedure for wiping a pc hard drive please? Am starting over due to old pc and major problems caused by cleaning out some malware. Understand can do reinstall of OS and will overwrite itcorrect? Thanks,
Mark |
| Lord Hypnogogue | 29 May 2009 6:59 p.m. PST |
If you're using XP, I believe there are 2 options when doing an install. One is an "express" install, the other is one that writes zeroes to the whole drive. I would suggest the latter. The exact terminology might be wrong, but the idea is pretty clear. Good luck! |
| Nick Bowler | 29 May 2009 10:42 p.m. PST |
If you really need to wipe a drive for some reason, there are a bunch of programs out there. I have used 'boot and nuke' succesfully. But if you just want a clean PC, do a fresh install. |
| thedrake | 30 May 2009 3:37 a.m. PST |
Thanks,guys! Will try fresh install of XP,overwriting everything. |
| blackscribe | 30 May 2009 7:15 a.m. PST |
"0 Fill" is the term you were looking for, Lord Hypnogogue. If you don't need the thing flattened, but just in a ready to start over state, you want: FDISK /MBR (the MBR part is for Master Boot Record) and then you can go about FDISKing, FORMATting, and loading your OS just like normal. If you do ever need to clean a hard drive, NIST makes a utility: link |
| Minondas | 30 May 2009 5:42 p.m. PST |
If you know the term partitions, are familar with command console and know how to use FDISK, then remove all the partitions, create new ones according to your needs, format C: partition and install XP on it. If you don't have a clue about what I'm talking about, take a look at Youtube, where you'll find several tutorials about the topic, like this one for example: YouTube link |
| Minondas | 30 May 2009 5:44 p.m. PST |
Oh yes, one important thing – if you remove your partitions, you will loose ALL your data on that partition/drive, NOT JUST Windows. istallation. |
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