Anyone know how to wipe a hard drive clean?
- Thread starter MalevolentJim
- Start date
Use some magnets... Lots of magnets!!!
Or buy a Mac, they have an application called Disk Utility, it is great and completely easy to use. Plus a much better operating system, and intel Macs are great fun!
Or buy a Mac, they have an application called Disk Utility, it is great and completely easy to use. Plus a much better operating system, and intel Macs are great fun!
To clear any confusion, restoring your computer to an earlier point in time does not remove data from your hard drive. It restores your registry. Good if your computer won't boot properly, but that's about it.
INSTRUCTIONS:
You're gonna need a windows boot disc. Go ahead and torrent one, there's nothing illegal about torrenting a boot disc if you use your own key that should be pasted to your computer somewhere. Usually on a very shiny sticker on the back.
As your computer is booting up, you're gonna need so spam the F8 button (this is the most common case, some computers use a different button). Follow the on screen menu to reformat your hard drive. This takes quite a bit of time. My HD is 500GB and takes around 4 hours to reformat.
After it finishes, do the F8 boot thing again and tell the computer to boot from disc (your new windows boot disc should be inserted by now), and select the correct disc tray. Tell it to install a fresh copy of windows. It will do so. After awhile it will ask you to enter your windows key and other information (name your computer, etc.). To install a fresh copy of windows, my computer takes around 20 min, but yours may take a bit longer depending on your disc drive and HD.
If you have any questions, PM me.
INSTRUCTIONS:
You're gonna need a windows boot disc. Go ahead and torrent one, there's nothing illegal about torrenting a boot disc if you use your own key that should be pasted to your computer somewhere. Usually on a very shiny sticker on the back.
As your computer is booting up, you're gonna need so spam the F8 button (this is the most common case, some computers use a different button). Follow the on screen menu to reformat your hard drive. This takes quite a bit of time. My HD is 500GB and takes around 4 hours to reformat.
After it finishes, do the F8 boot thing again and tell the computer to boot from disc (your new windows boot disc should be inserted by now), and select the correct disc tray. Tell it to install a fresh copy of windows. It will do so. After awhile it will ask you to enter your windows key and other information (name your computer, etc.). To install a fresh copy of windows, my computer takes around 20 min, but yours may take a bit longer depending on your disc drive and HD.
If you have any questions, PM me.
Get some warm soapy water and use a wash cloth. Make sure to rinse with cold water. Afterwords, wipe with a dry silk cloth.
reformat with a fresh copy of windows. Then jump to the manufacturer's website for any special drivers you may need.
The best thing about doing this is it gets rid of all the crap the original maker put on there that was completely not needed in the first place.
Most laptops even have about 10 gigs or so being eaten up by a hidden restore partition on the drive, that you can also get rid of and add back to the total drive space by using a clean windows install.
It will make it run a lot faster and get rid of all the junk in the process as well.
If you don't have an actual windows disc and all you have are the restore discs you'll be forced to keep the hidden partition so they'll work right.
If thats the case right after installation I would immediately pull all the trial software and support stuff off of there, because most likely it's not supported anymore anyhow, all that junk is just extra running processes that will slow the machine down.
The best thing about doing this is it gets rid of all the crap the original maker put on there that was completely not needed in the first place.
Most laptops even have about 10 gigs or so being eaten up by a hidden restore partition on the drive, that you can also get rid of and add back to the total drive space by using a clean windows install.
It will make it run a lot faster and get rid of all the junk in the process as well.
If you don't have an actual windows disc and all you have are the restore discs you'll be forced to keep the hidden partition so they'll work right.
If thats the case right after installation I would immediately pull all the trial software and support stuff off of there, because most likely it's not supported anymore anyhow, all that junk is just extra running processes that will slow the machine down.
as said above, the only way to truly wipe your hard drive clean is a reformat.
only takes a couple hours to install everything again, and there would probably be a noticeable speed increase.
only takes a couple hours to install everything again, and there would probably be a noticeable speed increase.
Your a bit mixed up there. The F8 key takes you to the Windows select options. That menu does not contain any options to format directly. What he needs to do is boot the computer and spam the 'delete' key. His objective is to gain access to his BIOS and it is from here he wants to select to boot from the Windows Boot Disc. He then needs to insert the disc and turn the computer back off. Upon rebooting the computer will request to boot from the disc, I think it is 'space' you have to hit to confirm the load. This will then load the Windows Disc and it is from THERE that he can then reformat the disc as well as reinstall Windows once it is done.
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If you don't have a Windows disc as a few people have said you can grab an .iso and use the Windows Key on the sticker on the case to reinstall. Failing that I think you can still get hold of Windows 7 install keys for nowt. Dunno if it will run on your system since you didn't post the spec but it is a possible alternative.
A reformat is a better option if you want to start from scratch with a totally clean system. If you know what you're doing and have the right software you can pick through the system and clean it up yourself. Avoid doing a non format reinstall of Windows. If it works it's great but it can create untold levels of problems if it goes wrong
find an image of the same windows version the computer is using, insert it and restart the computer. when its booting it is going to tell you to press a key to etner the installation and just follow the steps. at some point is going to reboot, dont take the disk out and this time when it tells you to press a key dont press any follow the instructions again and if everything goes well your all set.MalevolentJim said:Right,i'm getting my dads old(ish)computer to replace this awful laptop.The downside is that its horribly bugged and is now incredibly slow.I guess my only option is to wipe the hard drive.I even asked my friends father who is a computer repairman to help out and he chagred me ?100
So i hope someone here will be able to tell me a simple and easy to comprehend way to wipe my hard drive clean.There isn't much on it that i need,but i don't/can't re-install Windows XP on the computer.
Any help would greatly be apprecieated. (and please don't spam by suggesting i use google,i need a SIMPLE instruction).
EDIT:I would rather not get a new hard drive,unless theyre cheap,which is unlikley.
And i do not have a windows installation disc.This computer isn't exactly new.And i can imagine getting a windows XP disc would be too expensive too...Right?
yuo might need the hardware drivers (video and audio more commonly), donwlad them from the manufacturer's site or before you format the pc download, install and execute a program named net runna eich makes a backup of your drivers in a folder, copy that folder to a usb memory and when you have the new windows installation and the unistalled devices ask you for the drivers choose install from an espcific source and choose that folder.
you're probably going to need an office installation also
as a alternate option you might want to use a unatended windows edition (UE) with service pack 3.
