How do I erase a hard drive on a Dell?

Moses · 12-26-2006, 10:16 AM

I'm giving my old Dell to my brother-in-law. I want the machine to have a clean hard drive for him. I'm not concerned about security issues or "undesirable" files, I just want him to be able to start from scratch, set up his user ID, pick his settings, etc. Is there a way to erase everything and have the computer behave like it was new?

bigchillcar · bigchillcar's Garage

format c: doesn't work on a dell?

island911 · 12-26-2006, 10:21 AM

MRI?

. . .or just use the Dell "re-installization" disk. That should reformat, and re-install all the basic stuff.

scottmandue · 12-26-2006, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by island911
. . .or just use the Dell "re-installation" disk. That should reformat, and re-install all the basic stuff.

What he said... or find your friendly neighborhood geek and hopefully he has an install disk for XP or what ever operating system you like.

Moses · 12-26-2006, 10:31 AM

I have the disc. How do I boot from the CD?

masraum · 12-26-2006, 10:35 AM

if you bought the laptop new it probably came with a disk that can be used to make the laptop like it was when it was purchased. You probably just stick the CD in the drive and turn the laptop on. It should automatically boot to the CD and ask you what you want to do. If you have a generic XP CD then you'll have to do the work yourself.

Moses · 12-26-2006, 10:42 AM

I have the original disc, but it doesn't restart from the disc when inserted. How do I change the boot order so I can boot from the CD? And what the hell is a BIOS and where does it live? Thanks!

artplumber · 12-26-2006, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moses
I have the disc. How do I boot from the CD?

ESC or F1 before you see any script (ie "windows" etc) and change boot order

Moneyguy1 · 12-26-2006, 10:46 AM

Unless you have the hard drive totally "erased" ALL the info you have is still there, but not readily available (there is software that permits this, howeveer). Case in point....Our Compaq (one of the absolutely worst machinges on the market) was "rebooted" from the getgo by a friend who is a certified computer tech and worked for years at IBM. After eliminating everything and reinstalling windoes and the other software, I found all my saved letters, spreadsheets, etc. were still there. My friend explained that this is the case; all that the system knows differently is that the space is free to write over.

I dunno

My knowledge of up-to-date electronics stalled after HeathKit went down the tubes....

Moses · 12-26-2006, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
Unless you have the hard drive totally "erased" ALL the info you have is still there, but not readily available (there is software that permits this, howeveer). Case in point....Our Compaq (one of the absolutely worst machinges on the market) was "rebooted" from the getgo by a friend who is a certified computer tech and worked for years at IBM. After eliminating everything and reinstalling windoes and the other software, I found all my saved letters, spreadsheets, etc. were still there. My friend explained that this is the case; all that the system knows differently is that the space is free to write over.

I dunno

My knowledge of up-to-date electronics stalled after HeathKit went down the tubes....

Why is everything so damn DIFFICULT? I'm a spoiled Mac user, I guess.

mikester · 12-26-2006, 11:08 AM

It isn't difficult, it's just different.

What does the disk you have say it is? My wife's Dell disk was simply an OEM XP installation disc so it wouldn't make it like was when delivered but it would reinstall XP. Boot the system up and see if you can take a look at the disc's contents to see what it is. If it is the XP reinstall disc then run the setup from there and it will get your process going for you. When it reboots the system it will come up in the XP installation process and I *THINK* you will have the opportunity to delete the current partition and create a new one which will for most folks clean the system enough. Then it will reinstall XP and you've effectively started over.

If it doesn't, again - get into the BIOS which is the computer's Basic input output system. This is the firmware that gets everything started before the OS boots, Macs have them too there just aren't any options to be configured in them. So, anyway - get into that and you should be able to find the boot order option. Also some XP install discs boot from them but expect a keyboard input to confirm that you actually want to boot from them. No input and it passes things back to the hard drive.

That input usually looks something like this

"press any key to boot from CD..." The trailing dots appear on per second for 3 seconds. If there is no input then it boots normally to the hd.

Best of luck.

jrdavid68 · 12-26-2006, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
Unless you have the hard drive totally "erased" ALL the info you have is still there, but not readily available (there is software that permits this, howeveer). Case in point....Our Compaq (one of the absolutely worst machinges on the market) was "rebooted" from the getgo by a friend who is a certified computer tech and worked for years at IBM. After eliminating everything and reinstalling windoes and the other software, I found all my saved letters, spreadsheets, etc. were still there. My friend explained that this is the case; all that the system knows differently is that the space is free to write over.

I dunno

My knowledge of up-to-date electronics stalled after HeathKit went down the tubes....

Sounds like the tech just did a re-install, not a complete system restore.

Moses - on the Dell it might be F2 on startup to get to the setup menu to change the boot order - pretty easy once you are there.

Once it has been restored to the factory state, make sure to complete all the Windows updates.

fingpilot · 12-26-2006, 11:29 AM

I have always assumed that if you simply USED a Dell, it would self-destruct sooner or later.

Moses · 12-26-2006, 11:30 AM

It's working! (I think). There were a few partitions, so I deleted them all and started a new install. hope I'm on the right track!

NICKG · 12-26-2006, 11:51 AM

symantic wipe...then reinstall windows...not even the fbi can get anything then(hint for future Fastpat use)

Moses · 12-26-2006, 12:19 PM

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!