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How to wipe HD without reformatting...

T

twitchy10

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
454
I am going to be selling my desktop and need to completely clear the harddrive. Is there any software I can use to do that without having to reformat?
 
soooo, you are selling a computer, and it will have windows on it, but you don't have a cd so that you can reinstall?
 
TheTMan said:
soooo, you are selling a computer, and it will have windows on it, but you don't have a cd so that you can reinstall?
Click to expand...

no i am selling a computer that won't have any OS installed, the person buying will put it on, but I want to clear the HD before selling it to them

would this work? http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/
 
Why don't you want to reformat?

Do you want to write 0's on the drive or something like that?
 
Are you trying to say that you want to clean out your personal data and keep the OS intact? There isn't an easy way to do this - so if you're looking for a 1-click solution, you're SOL. It'll help if you give OS details. Is there any reason why you can't format then reinstall?
 
Fdisk!!!!

Keep hitting F8 when you boot up with the Windows CD (any Windows CD will work) and choose "command prompt" when it asks you.

Type in "fdisk" at the prompt.

Remove any partitions.

Reboot.

Done.
 
SarverSystems said:
Fdisk!!!!

Keep hitting F8 when you boot up with the Windows CD (any Windows CD will work) and choose "command prompt" when it asks you.

Type in "fdisk" at the prompt.

Remove any partitions.

Reboot.

Done.
Click to expand...

Not if you want to ensure that the data is permantly gone. I think the original poster is worried about personal data that was on the hard drive.
 
ksoze said:
Not if you want to ensure that the data is permantly gone. I think the original poster is worried about personal data that was on the hard drive.
Click to expand...

exactly!
 
twitchy10 said:
exactly!
Click to expand...

Download a drive utility from the HD manufacturer. Most of them will create a boot disc. Use the utility to "low level format" your hard drive. The process takes some time, but it should completely wipe out the data.
 
DEBUG.

The easiest way to do this is go to support.dell.com and search for cednab.exe. That is a boot disk with the debug command. Under the download, you will see frequent questions. Click on the one that says debug script for hard drive.

run the debug script.
Fdisk. (if you want, or have the buyer do it)
 
TheTMan said:
I'm still curious why you would say you didn't want to format...
Click to expand...

i'm not reinstalling an OS and wanted to erase the HD.
The only way that I knew a HD could be erased was by reinstalling an OS an reformatting
 
twitchy10 said:
i'm not reinstalling an OS and wanted to erase the HD.
The only way that I knew a HD could be erased was by reinstalling an OS an reformatting
Click to expand...

Reformatting does not equal installing a os. Reformatting gets rid of any data on the disk in preparation for a clean install of a os. Example would be: for windows 95, you would first format the hd using fat16. For windows 98 and windows me, you would format the hd fat32. For windows 2000, XP or vista you would format using fat 32 or ntfs. Again Formating does not = OS installation. You can format your hard drive in either fat 32 or ntfs and still not have any OS on the hd.
 
ValeX said:
Formatting alone actually leaves the data one the drive. It is not visible, but can be "brought back from the dead" using certain tools...GetDataBack is one of those tools....I think the OP is worried that someone might do this to his hard drive, and so he wants to COMPLETELY erase it, to an unsalvageable state. :D

ValeX
Click to expand...

that's exactly what i want to do. clear it completely so that the person that buys it from me can't access any of that info
 
twitchy10 said:
i downloaded it, hopefully it works

thanks guys
Click to expand...

DBAN works very well. As previously mentioned, Format and Fdisk will NOT do what you want.
 
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