How to delete everything from Hard Drive?

justagirl

Could someone please tell me how to delete everything from the hard drive of a computer please (think its windows 98 - old computer)...... I want to delete off everything before I recycle... Thank you very much.:)

petes

See the sticky on Essential free software under Security. dban is what you could use.

lynch_3001

the way i did it on my xp(i think it works the same way for all) is to find the button you press at the start to get a boot menu up(usually called boot options, about f8 i think just keep trying until you get a screen up with a list of, cd rom drive hard drive ect.) put the cd in the drive (the OS cd), choose the boot from cd rom, then you get a blue screen up a and then format, takes about a hour.
hope this helps

justagirl

Txs Pete and Lynch for v. quick reply.... I'll give one of those a shot and if I've any probs I'll post back......:D

coolpix23

What I do Is install a minimal instalation of Linux and tell it to check for bad block.

Make sure its an "Install CD" not a "Live" cd,

If your'e felling realy paranide you can repeat it several times using Win/Linux alternatively

justagirl

coolpix23 wrote:

What I do Is install a minimal instalation of Linux and tell it to check for bad block.

Make sure its an "Install CD" not a "Live" cd,

If your'e felling realy paranide you can repeat it several times using Win/Linux alternatively

Txs Coolpix - buts thats a bit too technical for me!! Thanks anyway:o

L31mr0d

lynch_3001 wrote:

the way i did it on my xp(i think it works the same way for all) is to find the button you press at the start to get a boot menu up(usually called boot options, about f8 i think just keep trying until you get a screen up with a list of, cd rom drive hard drive ect.) put the cd in the drive (the OS cd), choose the boot from cd rom, then you get a blue screen up a and then format, takes about a hour.
hope this helps

eh.. that really isn't deleting anything, it is very easy for someone with a little bit of computer knowledge to restore most if not all of your information after a format in XP. Believe me i've done it before with some freeware online for a friend. When you do an XP format, the drive isn't actually wiped only the MFT is (i.e. imagine instead of burning a book, you just burn the table of contents so nobody can find where anything is in the book) all a person has to do is implement a new MFT (i.e. write a new table of contents) and they have access to all your information.

Your ONLY safe bet is to use what petes linked to which is an industrial grade disk wiper, dban. Just boot into it and leave it running on one of the recommended settings overnight, or even for a few days. The longer the better.

justagirl

L31mr0d wrote:

Your ONLY safe bet is to use what petes linked to which is an industrial grade disk wiper, dban. Just boot into it and leave it running on one of the recommended settings overnight, or even for a few days. The longer the better.

Thanks for that L31mr0d - appreciate it.

tunney

Open up the case, take out the hard disk, smash it with a hammer and then burn the remains.

IgsTer

will that dban thing delete the operating system as well..or will it leave the os on but noting else..??

Khannie

dban gets my vote too. Format is worthless as a secure means of erasing data unfortunately.

L31mr0d

IgsTer wrote:

will that dban thing delete the operating system as well..or will it leave the os on but noting else..??

try it out and see only jokin, IT WILL DELETE EVERYTHING including the kitchen sink

mickymc

Hi Guys..
Just wondering is there anyway of just deleting all personal data without deleting the operating system...

Anti

Take hard drive. stick in microwave. buy new hard drive. Done.


mickymc: Just use dban, and reinstall the os back on.

IgsTer

lol L31mr0d... i dont think ill be trying that out..:D


well as mickymc said whats the best thing to erase all my data off of a pc but keep os..because as im getting a new pc soon and ill be deleting all my stuff off this one and it will probably be going to someone..and i dont have an os installation disk the os came preinstalled wit pc..

petes

Eraser