Format windows 98 hard drive

[Guest]

Hi,
Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard drive of an
old computer with windows 98. My parents refuse to throw it out unless all
their files etc are deleted from the hard drive properly.

 

[Curt Christianson]

Boot the machine with a boot-floppy, and at the DOS prompt type:
format C:\

If you don't have a boot disk, you can get one at www.bootdisk.com.


--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

| Hi,
| Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard drive of an
| old computer with windows 98. My parents refuse to throw it out unless
all
| their files etc are deleted from the hard drive properly.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard
drive of an old computer with windows 98. My parents refuse to
throw it out unless all their files etc are deleted from the hard
drive properly.

I don't blame them - good idea.
Search the Internet for a Freeware Drive Wiping Utility.

Or...

Take the hard disk drive out and use a sledgehammer on it until you can get
the platters out.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi,
Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard drive of an
old computer with windows 98. My parents refuse to throw it out unless
all
their files etc are deleted from the hard drive properly.

Since you're posting your question in a WinXP newsgroup,
here is the WinXP answer: Boot it with a WinXP CD, then
allow the disk to be formatted when prompted.

If you want a Win98 answer then you should ask a Win98
newsgroup.

 

[Curt Christianson]

Your way sounds like a lot more fun!!

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

| JacquieCC wrote:
| > Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard
| > drive of an old computer with windows 98. My parents refuse to
| > throw it out unless all their files etc are deleted from the hard
| > drive properly.
|
| I don't blame them - good idea.
| Search the Internet for a Freeware Drive Wiping Utility.
|
| Or...
|
| Take the hard disk drive out and use a sledgehammer on it until you can
get
| the platters out.
|
| --
| Shenan Stanley
| MS-MVP
| --
| How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
|
|
|

 

[John McGaw]

Hi,
Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard drive of an
old computer with windows 98. My parents refuse to throw it out unless all
their files etc are deleted from the hard drive properly.

Darik's boot and Nuke is a great free solution. The program will create
a bootable CD or DVD or floppy or USB drive for you. Boot from the
created media and it will wipe everything on the hard disk in an
unrecoverable way. There are other ways to attack this sort of problem
but this is the easiest I've found.

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Beware of simply formatting the hard drive as others have recommended --
data can be recovered from an "empty" formatted drive.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard drive of an
old computer with windows 98.

Boot from a boot diskette and run the command Format C:

My parents refuse to throw it out unless all
their files etc are deleted from the hard drive properly.

Formatting does not do a particularly good job of deleting files, and
most people wouldn't call doing that deleting them "properly."

Here's my standard post on deleting the contents of the drive:

It depends on how paranoid you want to be. Note the following.

1 When you delete a file, it normally goes into the recycle bin. That
gets rid of it in one sense, but it can be retrieved from the recycle
bin, if the bin hasn't been emptied.

2. Once you empty the recycle bin, you can no longer retrieve files
from it. However a deleted file is still on the disk --just the space
that it used is now marked as available. There exist many different
undelete programs that can still recover the file, until the space is
rewritten.

3. Once it's gone from the recycle bin, you can make the file much
more difficult to recover by using one of the many available programs
that overwrite deleted files multiple times.

4. Even if the space has been overwritten multiple times, there are
sophisticated (and usually very expensive) data recovery techniques
that can still, at least sometimes, find remnants of the deleted file
and recover it.

5. Because of that last point, the US government does not rely on any
software techniques when getting rid of really sensitive data, but
physically melts the drive in a furnace.

You'll have to decide for yourself to what lengths you want to go.
Personally, I would probably just reformat and reinstall Windows.

 

[HeyBub]

Boot the machine with a boot-floppy, and at the DOS prompt type:
format C:\

If you don't have a boot disk, you can get one at www.bootdisk.com.

FORMAT will not remove the data.

 

[Mike Cawood, HND BIT]

Hi,
Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard drive of an
old computer with windows 98. My parents refuse to throw it out unless
all
their files etc are deleted from the hard drive properly.

Remove hard drive from case.
Get large hammer & centre punch.
Punch a several very large dimples in the hard drive.
Dispose of hard drive.

Alternatively run the windows 98 system disk, & run Fdisk & delete the
partion(s) on the hard drive.
Mike.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Your way sounds like a lot more fun!!

And frankly is probably more effective. The simple tools, like removing
and recreating partitions and formatting, still leave recoverable data.

As a bonus, you could charge someone else to do it, and call it therapy.

 

[Guest]

just take the old harddrive
and install into the new computer
as a slave drive. then you can
use / have all the data that's on it.

as far as the rest of the old pc,
take it to a "recycling center".

"save the hd and save the earth"

--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[Curt Christianson]

LOL! That works for me Patrick. <g>

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

| | > Your way sounds like a lot more fun!!
|
| And frankly is probably more effective. The simple tools, like removing
| and recreating partitions and formatting, still leave recoverable data.
|
| As a bonus, you could charge someone else to do it, and call it therapy.
|
| >
| > --
| > HTH,
| > Curt
| >
| > Windows Support Center
| > www.aumha.org
| > Practically Nerded,...
| > http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm
| >
| > | > | JacquieCC wrote:
| > | > Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard
| > | > drive of an old computer with windows 98. My parents refuse to
| > | > throw it out unless all their files etc are deleted from the hard
| > | > drive properly.
| > |
| > | I don't blame them - good idea.
| > | Search the Internet for a Freeware Drive Wiping Utility.
| > |
| > | Or...
| > |
| > | Take the hard disk drive out and use a sledgehammer on it until you
can
| > get
| > | the platters out.
| > |
| > | --
| > | Shenan Stanley
| > | MS-MVP
| > | --
| > | How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
| > |
| > |
| > |
| >
| >
|
|

 

[Curt Christianson]

I realize that, but the OP also asked how to format and I told them--but
you're right; the data is still recoverable.

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

| Curt Christianson wrote:
| > Boot the machine with a boot-floppy, and at the DOS prompt type:
| > format C:\
| >
| > If you don't have a boot disk, you can get one at www.bootdisk.com.
| >
|
| FORMAT will not remove the data.
|
|

 

[Lil' Dave]

Hi,
Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard drive of an
old computer with windows 98. My parents refuse to throw it out unless
all
their files etc are deleted from the hard drive properly.

Put hard drive in the bbq pit for a year. Leave it out in the weather for
another year. Soak in full strength hydrochloric acid for a month. Another
month, nitric acid. Following that, place the remnant hard drive adjacent
to a refrigerator's compressor motor for another year. Tack weld to a hefty
chain and tie it to your pickup, remnant drive must touch the road. Drive
until the hard drive is gone. Give the chain to your parents.
Dave

 

[Guest]

Well - see my post lightened up all your evenings - I suppose you all
presumed I know what part of the inside of the computer the hard drive is!!!
However I do think the easiest solution after this is to let me kids
dismanlte the whole computer and then let them rebuild the whole thing as a
lamp shade - if any of you live in the UK and are my age you will know that
Blue Peter already has one on hand to show me how the final object should
look like. I think that 4 kids with an age range of 3 - 15 should manage
that - and the big plus is that I will have a baby sitter for a whole
afternoon - I will of course not be letting the 3 year old play with any
small parts - she can just glue the lamp shade together - any person who
after this deems it worthwhile to put my parents old computer back together
to get any data off of it would be totally and utterly nutty
thanks anyway -

JacquieCC

 

[Curt Christianson]

You're welcome Jacquie, annd *yes*, we did have fun with this post!

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

| Well - see my post lightened up all your evenings - I suppose you all
| presumed I know what part of the inside of the computer the hard drive
is!!!
| However I do think the easiest solution after this is to let me kids
| dismanlte the whole computer and then let them rebuild the whole thing as
a
| lamp shade - if any of you live in the UK and are my age you will know
that
| Blue Peter already has one on hand to show me how the final object should
| look like. I think that 4 kids with an age range of 3 - 15 should manage
| that - and the big plus is that I will have a baby sitter for a whole
| afternoon - I will of course not be letting the 3 year old play with any
| small parts - she can just glue the lamp shade together - any person who
| after this deems it worthwhile to put my parents old computer back
together
| to get any data off of it would be totally and utterly nutty
| thanks anyway -
|
| JacquieCC
|
| "Lil' Dave" wrote:
|
| > | > > Hi,
| > > Any simple instructions on how to format the whole of the hard drive
of an
| > > old computer with windows 98. My parents refuse to throw it out
unless
| > > all
| > > their files etc are deleted from the hard drive properly.
| >
| > Put hard drive in the bbq pit for a year. Leave it out in the weather
for
| > another year. Soak in full strength hydrochloric acid for a month.
Another
| > month, nitric acid. Following that, place the remnant hard drive
adjacent
| > to a refrigerator's compressor motor for another year. Tack weld to a
hefty
| > chain and tie it to your pickup, remnant drive must touch the road.
Drive
| > until the hard drive is gone. Give the chain to your parents.
| > Dave
| >
| >
| >