does reformatting your computer delete stuff?

Question

as in, not realy getting rid of it, just pushing it back into memory were you cannot access it anymore.
or does it actually erase it...no longer even exist in your computer.

I ask because I see computers at garage sales that the owners say they are getting rid of them because the are old & slow.

I don't mind old, but dont want slow. if I buy it and reformat it will old programs in it still be in the memory regardless to slow it down? or is reformatting truly erasing info to make it no longer exist.

I read all the answers but they conflict with each other. I can't tell which is right. so I will put it to a vote to see what the others think. thank you for all your answers.

Answer 1

yes.
Reformatting does erase all the previous data but it can still be seen if you are a professional hacker.

But for normal user, format your computer will erase all the files inside.
To backup your files, create a partition.

Answer 2

Reformatting wipes everything off of a hard drive. There will be no programs on it anywhere.

But old/slow computers are just that. They are slow. Nothing you do will speed them up. You could probably find an upgrade for the CPU and or RAM on Ebay, but even then they will not come up to todays standards.

Answer 3

Hey buddy i think your major concern is speed, well formatting deletes all the stuff in your hard drive and to start again you need to install the OS and then all the programs. The thing is that after a long use of the pc and installing programs and uninstalling them there still remain fragments/pieces or registries of the programs and they start every time you restart your machine and thus making your processor and computer slow, as they use up the same resources as the active ones do.

The best thing is to keep a back up of your computer using products like restore my oc etc, without putting unnecessaryt programs and whenever you fell that computer is slow, tranfer your personal documents on toa removable media and format your pc.

Answer 4

Formatting a drive doesn't just get rid of pics etc. it gets rid of everything on that drive!!

If you get a second hand computer and format the hard drive/s it will get rid of everything.

However I am pretty confident in saying that the operating system will not let you format the boot drive (sorry not daft enough to check that one out) so you would need a boot up disk - this is usually an original Operating System (like windows xp) CD to do it.

If you did manage to format the boot drive you would still need an OS disk else all you would have is an empty computer.

Answer 5

When you reformat a computer, it will delete everything off the hard drive. Now depending on what kind of RAM (memory ) it has it can still be slow.

It is best to go to wal-mart or even pawn shops and see what they have. Since most programs now require at least Windows XP to run.

Answer 6

this one i'm an expert at, i do it all the time on computers i get. if u get a computer from a garage sale, and u dont want slow, u need to look inside first, that will tell u if its gonna be slow, look for memory sticks, best clue, if there small, little ones, chances r it will be slow no matter what u do.
but if u do get it, u need to fdisk it first, then reformat, complete reformat, and YES that wipes out everything, completely, if u reformate and dont put a operating system on it, and turn it on, u will get a message that says "no operating system" and thats as far as u can go, black screen.

Answer 7

Wipe the wholepersistent could smash the OS and make the computing device unusable (until eventually you re-set up the OS and purposes from a restoration disk/partition). Wiping loose disk area isn't sufficient for privateness (see link below) simply by fact of replace document, hibernation document, undeleted documents in the person profile itemizing, and information many different places.

Answer 8

If you rerformat a computer using a Windows XP disc, it removes everything that is currently on it and reinstall Windows XP, leaving what is basically a new system (with no programs on it)

Answer 9

yes it does delete your documents like pictures music but nothing else