How do I erase a hard drive on a Dell?

[john70t]

The only sure way of removing all data from a hard drive is to remove it and use a BFH.
Who knows what Windows will "accidentally" miss, even with disk overwriters.

Get a new hard drive and call/write MS and let them know your hard drive crashed and need to reinstall XP from the backup CD and need a serial code or whatever.
You've bought your OS licence right? You should have the write to use it on your computer.

[mikester]

[stomachmonkey]

Originally posted by Moses
I'm done! It wasn't too bad. Looks like a new computer!

My brother in law has been going through a rough patch (financially). I got him an iPod for Christmas but I found out he doesn't have a functional PC. D'oh! I am able to get my Windows specific work done on my Mac running Parallels, so I'll give him the Dell. It's a pretty fast machine. He loves his music, so now I hope the iPod will see some use.

Thanks for your help. everyone. Merry Christmas!

Moses,

VM just released their beta.

A bit slicker than Parralels which I think is a great product. A bit faster as well and a ton of preconfiguered images.

Get the Beta and check it out.

http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/

scott

[Moses]

Originally posted by john70t
The only sure way of removing all data from a hard drive is to remove it and use a BFH.
Who knows what Windows will "accidentally" miss, even with disk overwriters.

Get a new hard drive and call/write MS and let them know your hard drive crashed and need to reinstall XP from the backup CD and need a serial code or whatever.
You've bought your OS licence right? You should have the write to use it on your computer.

I used the Windows XP PRO OS that came with the computer. No problem after I changed the boot order.

I'm not concerned about security with this computer, I just didn't want him to have to sift through all my old stuff. My old stuff may not be gone, but it's not showing up either so it's all good.

[rcecale]

DANG!!! Got here too late. Could have saved you a little BIOS hassle had I seen this thread earlier. If I remember correctly, instead of pressing F2 to get into the BIOS, you could have pressed F12 (at the same point) to bring up the boot menu...giving you the option to choose Floppy, HDD, CD-ROM, Network, etc.

NOTE-This is not a permanent change, just a temp, one time thing that can be repeated whenever necessary.

Oh well, maybe a tidbit to pass on to your brother-in-law, should the occasion arise.

Randy

[JavaBrewer]

Now comes the fun of getting iTunes/iPod to work on a PC...

[NICKG]

yea....it toook me months to figure it out as they don't have any kind of help around...but yet my neice just plopped down and used like a pro in seconds, while i fumble and curse for months.