Format Windows XP Pro question.

[utvols20]

I have a machine that has XP and was wondering how can i make the HDD new again? As in nothing on it, not even a OS. Thanks!

 

[electronicsfreak]

Best way to do this is create a windows 98 floppy boot disc. Load from it, delete the partition, create a new one and then restart the computer and load from the disc again. Now type format c: and then type y when it ask if you are sure. This will wipe the drive out. To create a boot disc you can create one from this site.

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Any further questions or confusion feel free to ask.

 

[rvnguy]

utvols20,

Get/make a bootable drive utility CD from the drive mfg (each drive mfg has utilities on a CD or downloadable).

Run their utility and write "Zeros" to the drive. You are now clean. If this is for any US government purpose there is a protocol for this and you should check.

If you have a 3rd party software you could also use this to write "zeros" to the drive.

Hope this Helps

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[utvols20]

I heard i can use the Windows XP CD to format but when it starts to install Windows i can just turn the computer off. Seems like there are plenty ways of doing it, huh?

 

[Gitszer]

Hi, depends what you're trying to achieve. if you just want a blank disk then using the Win98 boot floppy as electronicsfreak suggests however if you want a to completely wipe all old data from the disk so that it is unrecoverable but still be able to reuse the disk again you will need 3rd party software such as Ghost Enterprise or such. These applications write zeros and ones to all locations on the disk after wiping it thereby overwriting all your old data and essentially blowing it away. As rvnguy says, some of the manufacturers do provide disk wiping utils but again it depends on how unrecoverable you wnat the old data to be!