PC reformat
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- ********
hey - i'm selling my laptop on ebay - winXP - is there a way to wipe it clean before i send it? i still have the install disk -
there's no sensitive information but i just wanted to clean it up for the new guy a little bit. thanks.
- Donvitoviti0
boot up with the XP CD..
then you can unistall/format
- sparker0
google for a little program called maxllf.exe
it is a low-level formatting utility. you boot to a floppy (usually a 98boot) and run maxllf at the dos prompt.
it wipes the drive clean...like it just came from the factory.
- sparker0
booting the xp cd doesn't reformat the drive, it simply acts like fdisk and deletes the partition table.
- Donvitoviti0
believe me.. you can format with the CD.
It is a bit wierd to do.. but you can do it... done it many times
- sparker0
you can format as fat or ntfs from the boot cd, or run fdisk via the maintenace portion of the xp disc...but that isn't wiping the drive.
formatting and wiping different.
just like deleting a file doesn't remove the inodes from the disk...it simply deletes the file from the os...that's what a free-space wiper is for.
- Donvitoviti0
yes.. that is true, but I am sure he was just talking about formatting.
But yes.. if you want to wipe it clean of anything... then do that. Didnt think he wanted to go that far.
- sparker0
"hey - i'm selling my laptop on ebay - winXP - is there a way to wipe it clean before i send it?"
- toe_knee0
geek fight!
- ********0
yeah, geek fight - thanks fellow geeks, you make NT rad.
- Donvitoviti0
well if somebody is asking how to clear their hd... they prob dont know how to do any of that stuff and most likely is talking about formatting
- heathen0
google drivescrubber...boots of a floppy or flashdisk and wipes the system 1,7, or 40 times. In line with the dept of defense standards. good stuff.
- Mick0
If you want to "wipe" your laptop clean, I recommend tissues and some windex - but really you should have been more careful when look at all that porn.
- clone0
Donvitoviti is right i do it too