Format n

lipsthefish

Sorted thanks

closed

read the factory restore instructions in the manual

lipsthefish

I don't want to factory restore, I want to wipe the hard drive so there is nothing on it?

TIA

TakeThis

Why? Make and model?

esuhl

You can't format a drive that you are using to run the OS from. So you'll need to boot into another OS.

In theory (unlikely!) you might have the option to format a partition from the mini-OS that runs from the recovery partition. Otherwise, you could install an OS on one partition and use it to format other partitions. The only way to format every partition on the device would be to run an OS from an attached drive of some sort (CD/DVD/HDD/USB)...

lipsthefish

It is an acer aspire one d260-a, I want to give it to my local charity but they will only accept them with a blank hard drive. I have a flash drive I can use now.

esuhl

lipsthefish wrote: »

I have a flash drive I can use now.

In that case, you could install the GParted boot image to the USB stick, then boot from that and use it to format the drives.

ChiefGrasscutter

lipsthefish wrote: »

It is an acer aspire one d260-a, I want to give it to my local charity but they will only accept them with a blank hard drive. I have a flash drive I can use now.

Well that's the Charity's problem.
Do they want it or not?
What they are asking for is above the capabilities of a normal computer user and you are going to be spending a lot of your time on it
Frankly I'd tell the Charity you'll chuck it in the bin and see if they have an "attitude re-adjustment"

macman

Remove the hard drive, place in a USB hard drive caddy, connect to another PC/laptop. Wipe it using any of the free software packages available. Replace wiped hard drive in netbook.
Though why any charity would want a netbook without an OS when they could have one with a completely clean Factory Restore is beyond my understanding, since it'll massively reduce it's value.

S0litaire

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

Well that's the Charity's problem.
Do they want it or not?
What they are asking for is above the capabilities of a normal computer user and you are going to be spending a lot of your time on it
Frankly I'd tell the Charity you'll chuck it in the bin and see if they have an "attitude re-adjustment"

it's a LEGAL/Admin problem not an attitude problem.

MS OS licences are generally not transferable so you can't give your copy to someone (or re-sell it). Also their is the problem of the Data Protection Act. (which means they basically can't hold information on a computer about a person without their permission) So getting the person giving the donation to wipe the drive they eliminate the need to check the drive and wipe it themselves.

If they are ever audited they can be heavily fined for having the OS if they can't produce the original invoice for it.

Also add to that that they need to track the licences of ALL of their software already it becomes too much of a issue to handle donated machines with OS's.

Robisere

Good advice from Macman, but:

If you don't have a USB caddy (external hard drive case) there is a simpler way, if you have the original operating system disc, or you can borrow a disc with the same o/s. MUST match exactly the o/s that was in the machine - Windows 7 whether 32 or 64 bit, XP Home/Professional, etc. Look on the base of the netbook, copy the o/s code, put the borrowed o/s disc in at startup.

You will be asked if you want to repair, reinstall or new setup. Go for new setup. The operating system will load as if you had just bought a disc for a new netbook and will format the machine, deleting everything already on it, replacing it with a new system. Give the disc back to the lender when done.

I suspect that the charity is afraid that they can later be accused of possessing someone else's personal information, or worse still, selling the netbook to someone else who may misuse the information. They are simply guarding their own legal position, Grasscutter is not aware of that. This way you can assure them that there is an operating system on the netbook, but nothing else.

If you cannot do any of this, for whatever reason, try to borrow a hard drive caddy as per macman's advice. You should be congratulated for giving it to a charity.