How to wipe hard drive in XP

[Guest]

Does anyone know how to get around the message that the C
drive is in use when you try to format it in the dos
prompt? We want to wipe an old computer, remove XP and
reinstall Win98. All I need to know is how to format the
C drive. Any help would be appreciated!!

Cindy

 

[Norm]

Go to bootdisk.com, download and create a bootdisk. Then you can delete and
recreate the partition and format it.

 

[Dave]

-----Original Message-----
Does anyone know how to get around the message that the C
drive is in use when you try to format it in the dos
prompt? We want to wipe an old computer, remove XP and
reinstall Win98. All I need to know is how to format the
C drive. Any help would be appreciated!!

Cindy
.
You can only format C during boot up. Boot up from the XP

CD and format your C drive.

 

[Alex Marshall]

You cannot format a partition that is in use (it would be sort of like
trying to pull a chair out from under yourself). You will need to boot the
computer from a startup disk, in this case a Windows 98 startup disk with
CD-ROM support. If your copy of Windows 98 is missing the startup disk you
can download one from the site I linked below. When you start with this disk
you will be at the command prompt; if your hard drive is FAT32 you can go
ahead and run the format command (format c to prepare it. If it is NTFS
you will have to run FDISK to delete the partition and create a new one. The
second link below goes to a guide that should help talk you through the
steps.

http://www.bootdisk.com

http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cach...portland.co.uk/win98_install/+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

 

[RJK]

The only way to remove all trace of XP is to "zero-fill" the hard disk.
You'll need to make a bootable diskette and place the hd utility on it, and
boot from floppy and run it.

You need the CORRECT utility for your make and model of hd. It's also
incorrectly referred to, (in some DOS hd utility progs), supplied by some hd
manufacturers, as a "low level format."

regards, Richard

 

[Alex Marshall]

I don't believe there is any need for that. If all the poster wants to do is
remove XP and install Windows 98 a simple format is all that's needed (or in
case the partition is NTFS deleting that partition and creating a new one to
format as FAT32). There's definately no reason to low level format it.

 

[Guest]

To wipe a hard drive so that there is NO data left over, I
suggest Acronis Drive Cleanser. You can pick one of 7 data
destruction methods, ranging from a fast wipe (not terribly
secure) to a 35X wipe (the U.S. Govt. DoD spec if 3 wipes
and a read -- it does that too.) Check it out at www.
acronis.com.

miles

 

[Tech73]

I'm just curious but why have you been posting questions to different groups
and then later answering them yourself as if you are a different person? I
have noticed you have been doing this a few days ago but decided not to
mention it at the time. You usually change your name though; I guess you
forgot to this time.

 

[S.Sengupta]

Hi!
"How do I format a NTFS, Fat/Fat32 drive with XP installed?"
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/format_XP.htm
regards/
ssg MS-MVP
pronetworks.org

 

[Michael Stevens]

I'm just curious but why have you been posting questions to different
groups and then later answering them yourself as if you are a
different person? I have noticed you have been doing this a few days
ago but decided not to mention it at the time. You usually change
your name though; I guess you forgot to this time.

You are getting confused by the way the updated web based CDO format now
displays the same anonymous @ discussions.microsoft.com for all posters not
supplying a name or electing to not display a email address. The OP was from
"Cindy", and you have accused "miles" of answering in his alternate
crossgender alias. LOL The MS CDO web based format is a disaster and is one
of the reasons you see multiple posts of the same question over and over in
the MS newsgroups.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Tech73]

Oops, I'm sorry miles. That is confusing!

You are getting confused by the way the updated web based CDO format now
displays the same anonymous @ discussions.microsoft.com for all posters not
supplying a name or electing to not display a email address. The OP was from
"Cindy", and you have accused "miles" of answering in his alternate
crossgender alias. LOL The MS CDO web based format is a disaster and is one
of the reasons you see multiple posts of the same question over and over in
the MS newsgroups.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Alex Nichol]

Does anyone know how to get around the message that the C
drive is in use when you try to format it in the dos
prompt? We want to wipe an old computer, remove XP and
reinstall Win98.

Use the Win98 startup floppy. Boot it (minimal boot) and give
FDISK
Say Y to 'Large disk support?'
Use its options to delete existing partitions - DOS ones if FAT 32,
non-DOS if NTFS. Then make a new DOS primary one for the 98,

Reboot, taking with CD support, and noting the drive letter, say E:,
assigned to the CD
FORMAT C:
E:
(or other letter, with the 98 CD in the drive)
SETUP

 

[Guest]

Sorry... not me. This is the first and only time I've
posted a question! I'd love it if I could answer this one
myself... it's making me crazy!! Must be some other Cindy.

Cindy of Michigan

 

[Frank]

This is not entirely true. In some cases old data will
_sometimes_ worm its way back up.

 

[Alex Marshall]

I have never heard of anything like that happening. When a file is deleted
it is of course still on the drive until overwritten by other files, but it
is marked as free space in the file table so it doesn't matter whether it is
wiped or not. As far as the OS is concerned the drive is empty. The only
reason that I know of to actually overwrite the entire drive would be for
security reasons, and that doesn't seem to be the case here. Now I could be
wrong of course, and I'd be very interested in seeing any cases of deleted
data coming back on it's own and somehow messing up a system. It would
require special recovery tools or software to bring these files back. I
still do not believe it is necessary to zero fill a drive just to do a fresh
install of Windows.

This is not entirely true. In some cases old data will
_sometimes_ worm its way back up.

 

[RJK]

I formed the personal opinion, a few months ago, that the best way of
completely removing XP in order to install an older Windows Platform was to
zero-fill it. At that time I had a spare machine sat on the bench here for
testing and playing around with various Windows scenarios. The thing had XP
Pro in it sat on NTSF. It would NOT go away ! W98's Fdisk.exe could not
delete the non-dos partition. Booting from XP pro cd would not give me a
full range of install options like it does when it detects a hd with a FAT32
partition on it, so I gave up and zero filled the thing. Consequently,
after partioning and installing W98se - booting from XP Pro cd-rom gave me
the option to install XP onto FAT32, ( I wanted dual-boot W98se and XP Pro )
.....W98se had to go in first anyway... and so on.

regards, Richard

 

[RJK]

...ps I like XP sat on Fat32 so that all my older slightly older disk
utilities continue to work !

regards, Richard

 

[Frank]

I don't care if you heard of it or not. It will happen and
quite often with files that are burned to CD's. These
files will worm their way up after a format.

 

[Alex Marshall]

Nonsense.

I don't care if you heard of it or not. It will happen and
quite often with files that are burned to CD's. These
files will worm their way up after a format.

 

[Michael Stevens]

I formed the personal opinion, a few months ago, that the best way of
completely removing XP in order to install an older Windows Platform
was to zero-fill it. At that time I had a spare machine sat on the
bench here for testing and playing around with various Windows
scenarios. The thing had XP Pro in it sat on NTSF. It would NOT go
away ! W98's Fdisk.exe could not delete the non-dos partition.
Booting from XP pro cd would not give me a full range of install
options like it does when it detects a hd with a FAT32 partition on
it, so I gave up and zero filled the thing. Consequently, after
partioning and installing W98se - booting from XP Pro cd-rom gave me
the option to install XP onto FAT32, ( I wanted dual-boot W98se and
XP Pro ) ....W98se had to go in first anyway... and so on.

regards, Richard

It was probably an extended partition.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm