My friend is selling his computer and wants to clean his hard drive any suggestions?

Answer 1

best way is format and reinstall
you will need your recovery disk which should have been given to you at time of purchase

go to this site for info

http://www.techtutorials.net/

Answer 2

pretty much what the person above said its still possible for people to get infomation from a HDD even after format so he has a choice, if he is really concerned and had info on there that was not for others eyes then remove the HDD and sell it with out, it will affect the price but only by 10, 20 quid maybe a bit more. Or format it, if you have the xp cd you can just put that in run it from boot and use the format system it has but make sure after formating he dont do any more of the installation and ejects the cd. Also do a full format not quick format it will be alot deeper.

Answer 3

Formatting and reinstalling the operating system will prevent most people from getting any information off the hard drive, but it is still possible though difficult to get things off a hard drive that has been reformated.

If he's paranoid or has kept important financial information or personal stuff he wouldn't want anyone else to see on his computer then use a program like boot and nuke http://dban.sourceforge.net/ to wipe the drive.

Answer 4

The best way is to remove the hard drive and put a pick axe through it. Then hit it with a sledge hammer until it is in a thousand pieces. Go to a Computer Fair and buy a new one for a couple of quid!
That is the best way you can guarantee that non of your info gets out!

Answer 5

There are other ways of deleting the information, one is to install another operating system, say Linux, over the origianl operat5ing system, then reinstall the original operating system.

Answer 6

To partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program:
1. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, or insert the first Windows XP Setup disk into the floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer.

Note To start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM (or from the startup disk), your computer must be configured to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive. In some cases, you may have to modify your computer's BIOS settings to set this configuration. For information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive, see the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact the computer manufacturer.

2. If you are starting the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do this.

Note If your hard disk controller requires a third-party original equipment manufacturer (OEM) driver, press F6 to specify the driver.

For more information about how to use F6 to supply a third-party OEM device driver while the Windows Setup program is running, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314859 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314859/) Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Windows XP Setup
If you are starting from the Windows XP Setup disks, insert each of the additional disks when you are prompted, and then press ENTER to continue after you insert each disk.


3. At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.

4. Note If you are using the Setup disks (6 bootable disks), the setup will prompt you to instert the Windows XP CD.

5. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.

6. If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.

7. All the existing partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partition or the unpartitioned space where you want to create a new partition. Press D to delete an existing partition, or press C to create a new partition by using unpartitioned space. If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this step for each of the existing partitions that you want to use for the new partition. When all the partitions are deleted, select the remaining unpartitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition.

Note If you want to create a partition where one or more partitions already exist, you must first delete the existing partition or partitions, and then create the new partition.

8. Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER, or just press ENTER to create the partition with the maximum size.

9. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to create additional partitions if you want them.

10. If you want to install Windows XP, use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER. If you do not want to format the partition and install Windows XP, press F3 two times to quit the Windows Setup program, and then do not follow the remaining steps. In this case, you must use a different utility to format the partition.

11. Select the format option that you want to use for the partition, and then press ENTER. You have the following options: • Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system
• Leave the current file system intact (no changes)
The option to leave the current file system intact is not available if the selected partition is a new partition. The FAT file system option is not available if the selected partition is more than 32 gigabytes (GB). If the partition is larger than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT32 file system (you must press ENTER to confirm). If the partition is smaller than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT16 file system.

Note If you deleted and created a new System partition, but you are installing Windows XP on a different partition, you will be prompted to select a file system for both the System and startup partitions.
12. After the Windows Setup program formats the partition, follow the instructions that appear on the screen to continue. After the Windows Setup program is completed, you can use the Disk Management tools in Windows XP to create or format more partitions.

For additional information about how to use the Windows XP Disk Management tools to partition and format your hard disk, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Answer 7

the best way is formating, to do so right click on your drives and select format. check quick format check box....

Answer 8

Delete the partition, every thing will be gone.

Answer 9

format it, clears everything, look it up on the interenet