09-09-2003, 08:42 PM | #1 (permalink) |
At The Globe Showing Will How Its Done
Location: London/Elysium
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Erasing The Entire Harddrive
How do I erase the entire contents of my harddrive including OS? I am getting ready to upgrade the OS and I don't want any remnants of Win ME floating around. Thanks for any info.
__________________
"But a work of art is a conscious human effort that has to do with communication. It is that or its nothing. When an accident is applauded as a work of art, when a cult grows up around the deliciousness of inadvertent beauty, we are in the presence of the greatest decadence the West has known in its history." |
09-09-2003, 08:43 PM | #2 (permalink) |
The GrandDaddy of them all!
Location: Austin, TX
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put in a dos bootdisk and get to the command prompt.
now, type in "format c:" (or whatever the drive letter is). that should wipe it all off.
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"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal |
09-09-2003, 08:52 PM | #3 (permalink) |
Crazy
Location: Salt Lake City
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On Win ME the option to make a DOS bootdisk is in the control panel, under either the "Add/Remove Programs" panel or the "System" panel, can't remember which.
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09-09-2003, 09:09 PM | #4 (permalink) |
Knight of the Old Republic
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
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It depends on which OS you're upgrading to. Tell us which OS you're installing after the format and I'll do my best to tell you the best course of action! Also, are you buying a full OS, or just an upgrade OS?
-Lasereth
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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert |
09-09-2003, 09:30 PM | #5 (permalink) |
lost and found
Location: Berkeley
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If you are upgrading to Windows XP, you will have the option to automatically wipe the drive before installation. Just boot from the XP disc, instead of your hard drive. Your motherboard manual can guide you through the BIOS to make that change. It's not too difficult .
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"The idea that money doesn't buy you happiness is a lie put about by the rich, to stop the poor from killing them." -- Michael Caine |
09-09-2003, 09:34 PM | #6 (permalink) |
Knight of the Old Republic
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
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Yeah, I was gonna suggest that exactly, but I didn't know which OS he's installing. It's a bit more complicated if he's not using XP. I love CD bootable OS's.
-Lasereth
__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert |
09-09-2003, 09:53 PM | #7 (permalink) |
At The Globe Showing Will How Its Done
Location: London/Elysium
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I have, as of now, XP Home Upgrade. Because I of glitches galore I want to upgrade to a full/clean install of XP Home. I started out with ME, then got the XP upgrade and now I want a full version (hopefully without all the glitches). Thanks for any help, suggestions, etc.
__________________
"But a work of art is a conscious human effort that has to do with communication. It is that or its nothing. When an accident is applauded as a work of art, when a cult grows up around the deliciousness of inadvertent beauty, we are in the presence of the greatest decadence the West has known in its history." |
09-09-2003, 10:21 PM | #8 (permalink) |
Insane
Location: In a huge maze just trying to find my cheese
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I would have thought all this correct until lately. I thought that a full format (with the xp disk or without) does not format the master boot record. Perhaps someone can explain that a bit better, or at leats make fun of me if I am wrong....
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09-10-2003, 03:23 AM | #9 (permalink) |
Crazy
Location: Arizona
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If you have an upgrade, you cannnot format the whole hard drive. The upgrade will not do a full install, that is what a full version is for. You would have to install your previous OS then install the XP upgrade. If you have a full version of XP, I'm sure that you can have an option to format the hard drive (just like 2000)? I have never installed XP but I would assume that they have the same install proceedures? Can anyone clearify that?
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"So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life." -Peter Gibbons, Office Space |
09-10-2003, 05:23 AM | #10 (permalink) |
Addict
Location: Somewhere... Across the sea...
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You could also download a free utility called BCWipe. There is a part of the program that you put on a DOS boot disk, it will allow you to wipe the hard drive with up to 7 passes (DOD standard). it can be time consuming, but it is like having a brand new drive. I have used this several times.
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The difference between theory and reality is that in theory there is no difference. "God made man, but he used the monkey to do it." DEVO |
09-10-2003, 06:22 AM | #11 (permalink) |
Crazy
Location: Adrift In Madness
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Yeah, in order to truly clean the drive you need to wipe it. It even over writes partition tables (so be careful). You can get the program off the IBM website. It's called Wipe. You just extract it to a boot disk and run it from a dos prompt.
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Overdosed on Apathy |
09-10-2003, 06:25 AM | #12 (permalink) |
Psycho
Location: BFE, Kentucky
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An Upgrade CD will do a perfectly clean install even on a new formatted Hard Drive. First it looks for installed components, does not fine any, Setup will ask you to insert a CD with a previous version of Windows such as any version of WIN98 to verify that you owe a previous version, after a few seconds Setup will ask to swap the CDs and VIOLA, it will do a clean install. Same is true with Win98 Upgrade that wants to see a WIN95 CD and a WIN95 Upgrade CD wants to see a few diskettes from WIN3.1 etc.
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09-10-2003, 07:02 AM | #13 (permalink) |
Knight of the Old Republic
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
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The best solution in my opinion is to suck it up and buy Windows XP Professional. I know it's a good bit of money, but it's worth it. Auto-format features whenever you want to re-install, no upgrade crap, and one hell of an OS. Upgrading seems to never work for me. The few times it did on a friend's computer all he got was constant weird errors in Windows.
-Lasereth
__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert |
04-28-2004, 12:34 PM | #16 (permalink) |
Addict
Location: Texas
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I'm getting ready to go from ME to XP home via a clean install next week myself. One of the things that's giving me nightmares though is after the drive is formated, what if it doesn't read my cd drive? I've had this problem years ago, so not sure if it still happens, and the only internet access I'd have available readily would be the library to troubleshoot it on. Any thoughts?
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" ' Big Mouth. Remember it took three of you to kill me. A god, a boy, and, last and least, a hero.' " |
04-28-2004, 12:39 PM | #17 (permalink) | |
WoW or Class...
Location: UWW
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Quote:
If there is a problem, spend $40 and get a new CD-ROM drive, hell get a DVD-ROM for that price.
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One day an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman walked into a pub together. They each bought a pint of Guinness. Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, three flies landed in each of their pints. The Englishman pushed his beer away in disgust. The Scotsman fished the fly out of his beer and continued drinking it, as if nothing had happened. The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink but then held it out over the beer and yelled "SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT, YOU BASTARD!" |
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04-28-2004, 12:48 PM | #18 (permalink) | |
beauty in the breakdown
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
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Quote:
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"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." --Plato |
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04-28-2004, 03:02 PM | #20 (permalink) | |
undead
Location: nihilistic freedom
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Quote:
I scoff at software utilities for destroying evidence. Odds are, people using them are just trying to hide their warez, mp3z, and pr0n from computer forensics. Truth is, no one cares. Everyone's got that on their computer too. No one's gonna spend the money to dismantle your harddrive in a clean lab to find out if you downloaded the HL2 source code. |
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04-28-2004, 05:53 PM | #21 (permalink) |
Go Cardinals
Location: St. Louis/Cincinnati
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The only people that would need the ultra-secure data erase programs are those who have kiddie porn and the Government (CIA, FBI, DoD)
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Brian Griffin: Ah, if my memory serves me, this is the physics department. Chris Griffin: That would explain all the gravity. |
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