How to format PC without booting anything from CD or USB

[problemo]

Hi, I know this is a Windows 7 forum but if anyone can help me out in this Windows XP dilemma, I would be very grateful.

I have a Windows XP PC which I want to completely delete everything and throw it in the garbage. Problem is the CD-rom drives do not work and I can't boot from USB (no option in BIOS).... I've already deleted personal files from the computer to the recycle bin and used Eraser to securely delete it. I want to completely delete everything (like a complete reformat) ---- within the OS or by other means.... how can I do this? I don’t want any programs, registry, or anything else when I throw the computer away.

 

[Qdos]

Remove the hard drive and, seeing as you say you're chucking everything away, take off the cover and smash the platter(s) with a suitable implement and dispose of the pieces in various ways...

 

[problemo]

Remove the hard drive and, seeing as you say you're chucking everything away, take off the cover and smash the platter(s) with a suitable implement and dispose of the pieces in various ways...

Any other way other than physically destroying the hard drive?

 

[curtiswardwell]

The Technonlgy Department where I work drills five to six holes in the HD and then discards them.

 

[Qdos]

Remove the hard drive and, seeing as you say you're chucking everything away, take off the cover and smash the platter(s) with a suitable implement and dispose of the pieces in various ways...

Any other way other than physically destroying the hard drive?

What are you going to boot from, given the original information posted, if you want to software wipe it?

Destruction of data must therefore be by a physical method. If you don't fancy smashing platters and drilling holes the you could possibly get it into an MRi scanner, an acid bath, or drop it into a deep ocean trench or live volcano (obviously I'm joking...)

Either that or you slave the drive to another PC and use a recognised data destruction method.

 

[problemo]

I was thinking there would be a method to create a partition in the drive, and boot from there?

 

[Qdos]

I was thinking there would be a method to create a partition in the drive, and boot from there?

And how will you format the new partition afterwards? :huh:

 

[problemo]

I was thinking there would be a method to create a partition in the drive, and boot from there?

And how will you format the new partition afterwards? :huh:

I dont need to. I have 30gb hard drive: I create 200mb partition to format other partition.

 

[Qdos]

I was thinking there would be a method to create a partition in the drive, and boot from there?

And how will you format the new partition afterwards? :huh:

I dont need to. I have 30gb hard drive: I create 200mb partition to format other partition.

And may I ask just what are you planning on installing to the 200Mb partition that will overwrite the contents of the other partition (only) on the same physical drive?

 

[Golden]

Hi,

The only way to achieve this, is to boot from CD/USB - or insert it into another PC, and wipe it from there using DISKPART > CLEAN ALL. Other than that, drilling a few holes through the hard disk will do the job.

Regards,
Golden

 

[mgp1964]

Low-Level Format, Zero-Fill and Diagnostic Utilities

 

[wanchoo]

If you have a floppy drive then you can also do it by using "fdisk".

I think that is how it all began although many may never of heard of "fdisk" like this 81 year old geezer..

Hi, I know this is a Windows 7 forum but if anyone can help me out in this Windows XP dilemma, I would be very grateful.

I have a Windows XP PC which I want to completely delete everything and throw it in the garbage. Problem is the CD-rom drives do not work and I can't boot from USB (no option in BIOS).... I've already deleted personal files from the computer to the recycle bin and used Eraser to securely delete it. I want to completely delete everything (like a complete reformat) ---- within the OS or by other means.... how can I do this? I don’t want any programs, registry, or anything else when I throw the computer away.

 

[mgp1964]

If you have a floppy drive then you can also do it by using "fdisk".

I think that is how it all began although many may never of heard of "fdisk" like this 81 year old geezer..

Hi, I know this is a Windows 7 forum but if anyone can help me out in this Windows XP dilemma, I would be very grateful.

I have a Windows XP PC which I want to completely delete everything and throw it in the garbage. Problem is the CD-rom drives do not work and I can't boot from USB (no option in BIOS).... I've already deleted personal files from the computer to the recycle bin and used Eraser to securely delete it. I want to completely delete everything (like a complete reformat) ---- within the OS or by other means.... how can I do this? I don’t want any programs, registry, or anything else when I throw the computer away.

fdisk will delete the partitions but will not write 0 to destroy the info on the HD. A low level format will make the disk raw and also allows writting 0's to the disk to destroy any data.

 

[SIW2]

I don't know about XP, but with more recent o/s - you could boot winre.wim off a small separate partition and use that to wipe it.

 

[davehc]

You obviously have a new computer?
Why not plug in the HD as a second hard disk and do a full format from there?

 

[Night Hawk]

And did you know that hard drives already have a built in system for nuking data off of them? Besides use of a security tool like the open source program Eraser to zero out drives you may want to read this older article on how to go about seeing everything made unrecoverable. How to REALLY erase a hard drive | ZDNet

Another option doesn't require any effort on your part but will pain your wallet a little! That would be taking it to some place that degasses drives! Well what would you do if drive failed and you needed it wiped? Securely Wipe a Dead Hard Drive | PCWorld

The last option however besides physically destroying a drive is either opening up the casing itself which exposes the platter to literally everything making it useless from dust, dirt, and other debris as well as oxidation. Or you can run magnets over it!

Now if you decided to save the drive(s) you would simply nuke with a zero filler and call it a day when you saw new partitions created putting other data on.