How do I erase hard drive - Hard Computers & Internet

Just remember, if you format a hard drive, someone will need to have a Windows disk to reinstall Windows on it again, to be able to use the computer. Here is a good link with super info about erasing a hard drive: How To Completely Erase Hard Drive

RIGHT CLICK ON THE HARD DRIVE U WANT TO ERASE AND CLICK ON FORMAT.A

A hard drive is the brain of a computer. However, over time, that brain can become overworked and overly saturated with old software and outdated information. It becomes clogged and needs a fresh start. By erasing a hard drive, you can give your PC that fresh new beginning. With a few steps you can erase your hard drive manually, without the aid of expensive software.

Make sure your data is protected before you proceed. Whatever you do not save will be lost once you erase the drive. Use a CD or jumpdrive to save your information. Boot with a system disk. Before you continue to erase the hard drive, use the system to create a system disk. Use a 3-1/2 inch floppy disk and format it with the command "format a: /s"; this will create a bootable disk that contains system commands. Place it in the drive of your system and turn it off, then back on. Reformat the hard drive. Once you've booted with the system disk, type "format c: /s"; this will reformat the hard disk, virtually destroying the old hard drive you used to know. Depending on the of the drive, the formatting may take a fairly long time. Once the formatting is over, use the command "fdisk" to create partitions (which are logical sections for your hard drive's storage). Given the newer hard drives and operating systems of today, you can fdisk the drive and use all of the space. or if you dont have a floppy drive Download a disk wiping utility, such as Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) or KillDisk. DBAN is an open-source product, while KillDisk is available as a free, closed-source download. http://www.dban.org/ http://www.killdisk.com/ Once you download the file, save it to your computer somewhere easy to remember. Insert a blank CD into your computer and use a CD writing program to burn the hard disk wipe utility to the blank CD. If you are using Windows Vista or 7, there is a built-in utility that will perform this task. Back up the data on your computer that you want to save, if necessary. Insert the CD that you created into the computer that is attached to the hard drive you wish to erase. Power on the computer and choose the setup option to boot from the CD. Once you have booted from the CD, you will enter into the hard disk wipe utility. Depending on which utility you chose to use, this screen will vary, but the choice you want to select is to erase or wipe a disk drive. Choose the hard disk that you wish to wipe and confirm that you wish to permanently erase the data on it. Before confirming this, you may wish to physically double check and ensure that you are erasing the correct drive. Once you start the erasing process, it cannot be halted, paused or reversed. You will have to wait for anywhere from a few hours to even a few days for the process to complete, depending on how large your hard drive is.
or you could just reinstall another operating system this will automatically delete the old wrong one you installed.



Hope this helps.

You have to install another operating system
Restart your computer during the boot process you will see on the screen to press a certain key to enter setup usually the Delete or F2 key

Press and hold that key during the boot up process to enter BIOS then using the arrow keys scroll down to advanced bios features press enter change your first boot device to cd press escape then press f10 to save to cmos to restart

Note this will erase you operating system you will have to have an operating system disk to load it onto you hard drive or create a partition to load another operating system

Note after you have loaded the operating system you should go back and change the first boot device to failsafe or optimised defaults after windows has loaded

your computer will automatically restart it might restart 2 times one to finish the installation
the next will be because the operating system is loaded and will boot from your cd

or
Formatting a hard drive to erase its contents does not mean the files are necessarily gone forever. Using data-recovery software, someone still could retrieve sensitive data and files from your hard drive even after you've formatted it. Instead of simply formatting your hard drive, use disc-cleaning software to permanently erase its contents. Disc-cleaning programs work by repeatedly overwriting the contents of a hard drive with random data patterns, making it virtually impossible to recover the original files. Download and install the freeware program Active@ KillDisk (see Below). http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm Click the Windows "Start" button and select KillDisk from the "All Programs" list. Click the check box next to the hard drive you want to erase in the "System Local Disks" menu. Press the "Kill" button. Select the erasing method you want to use from the "Erase Method" drop-down menu. Active@ recommends using the "US DoD 5220.22-M" method. Click "Start" to begin erasing the hard drive. Download and install the freeware program Hard Drive Eraser (see Below). http://www.harddriveeraser.org/ Click the Windows "Start" button and select Hard Drive Eraser from the "All Programs" list. Check the radio button next to the hard drive you want to erase under "Select Drive to Erase." Select the erasing method you want to use from the "Shredding Scheme" drop-down menu. The developers of Hard Drive Eraser recommend "DoD 5220-22 M" Press the "Start" button to begin erasing the hard drive. Download and install Iolo DriverScrubber (see Below). Click the "Windows" Start button, "All http://www.iolo.com/ds/3/ Programs" and then the DriverScrubber program icon. Click "Wipe all contents of a drive," and then click "3.5-Inch Floppy Disk." Insert a blank floppy disk and click "Next." Restart your computer with the floppy disk still inserted. Your computer will boot directly to DriveScrubber. Press the down arrow on your keyboard to highlight the hard drive you want to format in the "Available Physical Drives" menu. Press the space bar to select the hard drive. Press "Enter" to continue. Press the down arrow to highlight "Seven Overwrites" in the "Available Data Wiping Methods" menu, and then press the space bar to select it. Press "Enter" to continue. Press "CTRL," "ALT," "Shift" and "W" at the same time to wipe the hard drive. Hope this helps.



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A hard drive is the brain of a computer. However, over time, that brain can become overworked and overly saturated with old software and outdated information. It becomes clogged and needs a fresh start. By erasing a hard drive, you can give your PC that fresh new beginning. With a few steps you can erase your hard drive manually, without the aid of expensive software.

Make sure your data is protected before you proceed. Whatever you do not save will be lost once you erase the drive. Use a CD or jumpdrive to save your information. Boot with a system disk. Before you continue to erase the hard drive, use the system to create a system disk. Use a 3-1/2 inch floppy disk and format it with the command "format a: /s"; this will create a bootable disk that contains system commands. Place it in the drive of your system and turn it off, then back on. Reformat the hard drive. Once you've booted with the system disk, type "format c: /s"; this will reformat the hard disk, virtually destroying the old hard drive you used to know. Depending on the of the drive, the formatting may take a fairly long time. Once the formatting is over, use the command "fdisk" to create partitions (which are logical sections for your hard drive's storage). Given the newer hard drives and operating systems of today, you can fdisk the drive and use all of the space. or if you dont have a floppy drive Download a disk wiping utility, such as Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) or KillDisk. DBAN is an open-source product, while KillDisk is available as a free, closed-source download. http://www.dban.org/ http://www.killdisk.com/ Once you download the file, save it to your computer somewhere easy to remember. Insert a blank CD into your computer and use a CD writing program to burn the hard disk wipe utility to the blank CD. If you are using Windows Vista or 7, there is a built-in utility that will perform this task. Back up the data on your computer that you want to save, if necessary. Insert the CD that you created into the computer that is attached to the hard drive you wish to erase. Power on the computer and choose the setup option to boot from the CD. Once you have booted from the CD, you will enter into the hard disk wipe utility. Depending on which utility you chose to use, this screen will vary, but the choice you want to select is to erase or wipe a disk drive. Choose the hard disk that you wish to wipe and confirm that you wish to permanently erase the data on it. Before confirming this, you may wish to physically double check and ensure that you are erasing the correct drive. Once you start the erasing process, it cannot be halted, paused or reversed. You will have to wait for anywhere from a few hours to even a few days for the process to complete, depending on how large your hard drive is.

Hope this helps.

Go to the applications folder and then utilities and open up disk utility once opened select your 320 gig hard drive and under the tabs click on erase, select Format "Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then name your hard drive and then click on the erase button. Remember this will erase everything on the hard drive. Hope this helps.

Get an install disk for the operating system you wish to install (Make sure your computer is able to handle that operating system first), then put the disk in and boot to the disk. If your computer is not set up to boot to disk first then you will have to go into the BIOS, usually F2 of F12 on boot (whatever says press to enter setup), then change the boot settings from there.

Once you are inside the installer for that Operating System, it will give you an option to erase the hard drive you are wanting to install the operating system on, and restart new. Just so you are aware, this will reformat and ERASE EVERYTHING on that hard drive, so make sure that you have anything you want saved backed up somewhere else.

Once that is done, continue installing the operating system and then your hard drive will be erased, and the operating system will be reinstalled.

If you were just looking to erase a hard drive, then you can go to my computer, then right-click the hard drive you want to erase, then click format. THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING!

Hope this helps!

The disk utility programs should be on the main drive inside the computer...you need to make sure you tell the program which drive you want to erase..Say the external drive comes up as drive "d"..then you want to tell the drive utility software to erase the "d" drive

INFO:
Files are never really erased from a hard drive.
At various stages files are always recoverable.

RECOMENDATION:
To truly erase your hard drive take it out and completely destroy it down to many small parts.

Reformat the hard drive.




Hope this tip helps.

r/
David

Fastest, and most efficient way to erase an hard drive is by formatting it.

If the hard drive is the one in which the system is installed, then you will need to boot the computer using the system install disk (eg. Windows XP disk) to format the hard drive.