How to reformat my PC?

[Ebor337]

I selling my PC and want to reformat the whole drive so it is essentially "as new". How can i do this without the recovery cd?

Thanks

[robert99]

If you have not got a genuine Windows CD that activates then try ebay.
The PC drivers may be available on the PC website.
Could install a free Linux operating system.
Could leave things as they are and just delete all your personal data (risky if any banking details etc stored - so file shredding software needed ).

[georgej]

Are you going to put windows back on it?
If you are, i'd also get a copy of drivecrypt or something similar. This will allow you to overwrite the "whitespace" on your drive so that most data cannot be recovered. It overwrites all the free memory with junk, then deletes it.

If you are not putting windows back on, make sure you put that on your ad.

[Ebor337]

I've done it before and (genuine) windows automatically gets loaded onto it . . . (i seem to remember).

Before i've just whacked in the recovery disk, restarted the machine and it's done it all for me only this time it doesnt seem to be reading from the disk . . . Am i right in thinking i need to press F1 or somethign when the machine starts up so it reads from the floppy disk???

[Trilobite]

If you want to prevent any of your stuff from being recovered after your format you should think about formatting with a file shredder, something like this:

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/reviews.php

[Ebor337]

Right, i'm starting to pull my hair out now . . . .

The recovery floppy disk that has worked before now doesn't work - i'm guessing it's because it's a floppy disk that is 7 years old (its saying there's a sector missing or something!) . . .

I've then downloaded Eraser and killdisk but don't have a clue how to use the bloody things.

All i want to do is clean the hard disk ( I aren't bother about super-high shredding etc) - - - please can someone advise?!

P.s. XP is pre-loaded (no idea about if that is correct terminology) so don't have a disk.

[Trilobite]

You've got me confused now. So you have NOT got a windows XP installation cd ?

But you want to format the drive (wipe it clean) but then have windows back on but without any of your original files on it ?

[Ebor337]

Originally Posted by Trilobite

You've got me confused now. So you have NOT got a windows XP installation cd ?

No, I don't have an XP installation CD - as far as I am aware i have never had one - I have a recovery floppy disk which in the past has used!!!

Originally Posted by Trilobite

But you want to format the drive (wipe it clean) but then have windows back on but without any of your original files on it ?

Thats exactly what I want to do, yeah!!!

Really sorry if i'm not making sense.

[robert99]

When your floppy drive recovery worked it probably started up files in the recovery area (separate partition) of your hard disk. Windows is several Gigabytes and a floppy is only 1.4Mb. So you cannot reformat your hard disk without removing the needed recovery files on the hard disk.

You might get a replacement recovery floppy from the manufacturer or from someone on the forum for that PC. You will also get far more detailed help from that forum.

You will probably need to know your exact hard drive partition sizes. Copy the recovery data to CD/ DVD/ USB Hard disk as a backup. Reinstall fresh Windows onto a partition the exact same size as before.

Do use a file shredder first on any files that involve your security. Thieves can easily recover files that others cannot see on their PCs.