I want to erase and reuse my hard drive--its new and a good one. Would a magnet work ok? And will it cause adverse reactions?
2007-05-19 13:37:44 · 4 answers · asked by missyg 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
hi, if you are reinstalling the operating system, all you would need to do is a new installation. It will erase everything. But if you need to erase it so that you can use it as a second hard drive for storage, you could just install it to your existing computer and reformat it (it will have a hard drive letter assigned to it and you could go into My Computer, right click on that drive and choose format).
There is also some free software online that could do it for you. One of them is www.cnet.com, click on downloads, then find DiskDeleter ZW 1.0.1. If you try to use a magnet, you will erase the hard drive, but then it will be inoperable and useless. That idea is only used if you are throwing it away since its no good anymore. Hope this helps. God bless.
2007-05-19 14:08:23 · answer #1 · answered by nainaigurl 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The hard drive itself has a magnet in it. I don't think you could get one that would effectively do this. Best thing to do is to repartition and then format. If you have some secret data that you are worried about then there are small programs out there that will erase every sector. But if you just want to reuse it the former should work.
2007-05-19 20:44:59 · answer #2 · answered by CalCajun87 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Just install Windows on it, no need to erase, as you will get the option to format the drive during installation.
2007-05-19 20:43:00 · answer #3 · answered by Cupcake 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A magnet can cause serious damage, reformating or repartitoning will work great.
2007-05-19 20:47:18 · answer #4 · answered by Glenn B 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋