clear my hard drive

[guy101]

can someone tell me how you can wipe all the information and programs of your hard-drive because i got given the computer and something is really wrong with it so i thought i would erase everything and start from scratch

 

[digital_darknes]

FIRST though make sure everyting your gonna need later is backed up. After that make sure you have a boot up disk like micro said. XP pro is a bootable disk. If you need anymore help post again.

 

[Apokalipse]

if you have an OS CD you can pop that in on boot, it will come up with installation and it will give you a choice to format; if you have Windows 2000 or XP use the NTFS file system but anything like 98 or lower use FAT32

 

[AdamNF]

I also have a question about format. What is a recovery CD?

And can i format if i dont have the OS CD?

 

[preet2u]

A recovery CD is somethin' that is shipped with Branded machines .. They r normally used to restore the system to the same state as they were when they were shipped..

Yes u can format the system ..evn if u don't have a OS CD .. but then .. how would u install the OS ..if u don't have an OS disk

 

[Cherubimon_3.20]

if you have an OS CD you can pop that in on boot, it will come up with installation and it will give you a choice to format; if you have Windows 2000 or XP use the NTFS file system but anything like 98 or lower use FAT32

Doesn't Win98 use CDFS formatting?

 

[AdamNF]

ya lost me at quote

 

[Brona]

Hi,

I suppose using KillDisk software to erase your HDD. It is free and cleans the whole drive, so you can start from scratch by re-partitioning and re-formatting it afterwards. All data erased with KillDisk can not be restored. Head to http://www.killdisk.com for more info and download. Killdisk also supports some highly secure erase algorithms such as Guttman's.