I'd like to return the hardrive to its original format.
2006-12-12 20:20:35 · 8 answers · asked by napamichael36 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
even if you reformat the hard drive and put OS back on fresh, then with the right software you can still recover the data that you used as it's still there at the end of the disk under a different file type. if it's only a small hard drive eg: 40 GB or so then just buy another hard drive to put in instead and install that with the OS and use the one you had in your old system as a slave in the new machine. If you use a file shredder program you are going to need a second hard drive anyway to complete the task so you could wait till you get new machine and then use that to plug in the old hard drive through usb if you want(external) change the old drive to slave and then erase it with file shredder that way..... just a few ideas. it all depends how sensitive the data is and who you are donating the old PC to, as to how far you want to delete your old data
2006-12-12 20:32:05 · answer #1 · answered by mrs microchipper 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Nothing is stored in the CPU after the power is turned off.
To secure data that was on your computer, you should at the very least reformat the hard drive and reinstall the OS. You should have an OS CD or recovery CD that came with your computer.
If you are truly paranoid about someone recovering data from your computer (it CAN be done, even after reformatting the drive) pull the hard drive and destroy it with a hammer. Install a cheap repalcement drive, load the OS, and sell it.
Physical destruction of the drive is the ONLY guaranteed way to deny recovery of any data. It is the ONLY way that the government uses for computers that process classified information.
Repartitioning or reformatting a drive 100 times will NOT delete a SINGLE byte of data from the drive! That only re-writes the master boot record, partition table, and FAT or MFT. Reinstalling an OS will overwrite some of the sectors but a data recovery firm can still recover much of the data that previously existed on the machine.
2006-12-13 04:51:45 · answer #2 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can't erase anything from a CPU... it has nothing stored on it but computing instructions.
If you're talking about an entire computer, then you would want to format the hard drive. The best way to do this is to use your recovery CD or Windows XP CD and restore the system back to factory settings.
2006-12-13 04:23:26 · answer #3 · answered by Tim G 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
CPU is the Central Processing unit, the brain-
Hard-drive is where your info is stored, you need to format the drive at least. I'd fdisk in DOS and then format, re-install OS if you want, so it will be a usable computer when someone gets it.
2006-12-13 04:29:54 · answer #4 · answered by Mt ~^^~~^^~ 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
depending on the HDD manufacture - some have bootable tool cdroms - that will boot to a program where you can reformat the HDD - western digital and seagate offer the iso online i think...which you can burn to a disc to boot from.
Or, grab an old win98 startup floppy disk, boot from floppy, and at the A:\ prompt type 'fdisk' and repartition the drive and then reboot the startup disk and format the partition (C:) 7 times, yes, Seven times. win 98 startup disks load a ramdrive...fdisk runs from the A: prompt but format is on the ramdrive, it will most likely be the D: drive, at the prompt type 'format c: /u /v:temp'
good luck...
2006-12-13 04:32:36 · answer #5 · answered by T G 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
start u comp with win98 startup floppy
format the full disk.
then go 2 fdisk
delet the all the pration ,and u hdd become rew disk like new hdd.
2006-12-13 04:38:21 · answer #6 · answered by shiba 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
start up your comp with win98 or hit F8
you should see this
C:\
then type
C:\fdisk
delete all of the Partitions ,and you should be all new
2006-12-13 04:50:45 · answer #7 · answered by itsmaverick32 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
you just have to format the hard drive. simple!!!!
2006-12-13 04:30:53 · answer #8 · answered by khattie 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋