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smandirect

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Hey there im Steve.. 41 from Seattle not new to computers (been using them since my 1st vic 20) anyhow im decent at troubleshooting things and recently fixed a dell inspiron the hard way... Ive never reformatted or wiped a hard drive. im looking for a step by step guide or process to do that.. i have friends that occasionally ask to check there computer, i do... sometimes i figure it sometimes i dont... any help would be greatly appreciated.. thank you
 
Welcome to CF :), If you going to install Windows then there will be an option to format the hard drive before installing and most OS's will give you that option.
 
when i want a clean install, i just use the OS'es install CD.
Most OS'es has options to mess with the harddrive before installing the OS.

if you just want to wipe it and nothing else, then try out "Hirens boot"
it's a boot Image with different tools. Very useful for people who work with computers...
that image has some harddrives applications including one called "DiskWipe"
that should do the trick
 
@OP

Welcome to CF! Never stop learning :)

If you going to install Windows then there will be an option to format the hard drive before installing and most OS's will give you that option.
when i want a clean install, i just use the OS'es install CD.
Most OS'es has options to mess with the harddrive before installing the OS.

Actually....

Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, designed the install process in Kernal release 6.0 (Vista) and up to look at the physical drive and determine if Windows files exist. This means that even though you invoke the format command and tell it to install cleanly, it will still re-use core files because it is finding them on the "Quick Format"ed drive (only removes the File Allocation Tables... not the data). If you were able to corrupt the kernel files, you'll see this in action when you perform a reinstall without wiping the drive. The problems will persist in the new install.

SOOOoooo... you can only attain a true 'clean' install by wiping the drive first using Hiren's Boot CD or my personal choice, DBAN. Then it will truly be a clean install.
 
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