Wiping an XP laptop

Bigmoney2

I am disposing of my old laptop that runs XP. I can't find the command prompt so I can reformat the c drive before disposal, any ideas its running XP.


Is there anything else I should do as well before binning it?

stator

There's a program called DBAN (Darik's Boot And Nuke) that's excellent for completely wiping a drive. It's a bootable CD, so you can wipe the whole thing in one go without loading an operating system.
You can then use the manufacturer's system restore CD to put the original clean operating system back on.

Strider590

Take the harddrive out, "bin" the rest, put the harddrive in a cheap caddy and use it as external storage device on your next machine.

Bigmoney2

Strider590 wrote: »

Take the harddrive out, "bin" the rest, put the harddrive in a cheap caddy and use it as external storage device on your next machine.

Thanks, was going to remove it but want to wipe it/ format it first,
I just need to know how to find the command prompt.

Strider590

You can't wipe/format it whilst running windows from it.

If you have a windows CD, you could go through the install process for windows, which would allow you to run tools from the CD and format the drive.

Easiest way is to keep it, put the drive in a caddy and wait until you have another PC to format it from. Then as I said, you have an external storage device for future use and it'll only cost you £10-£15 (for the caddy).

That is of course assuming you really intend to "bin" the laptop.

stator

Bigmoney2 wrote: »

Thanks, was going to remove it but want to wipe it/ format it first,
I just need to know how to find the command prompt.

By pressing F8 whilst it's loading you can get to the Safe Mode command prompt, but I'm not sure you'll be able to format from there. You'll want to boot from external media, either a CD or floppy drive if you have any

But formatting the drive won't wipe data properly, if you want to sell the laptop or give it away you'll want to wipe it properly using the program I mentioned above.

Bigmoney2

Thanks again.

Not sure I have the original discs for it anymore.
I thought formatting was the easiest way to clear it.


It will definitely be binned as mouse pad doesn't work and the casing is broken, it lifts the key pad when opening and closing so pretty knackered. I've already bought a replacement, just want rid of the old one.

stator

If you're throwing the laptop away then just take the hard drive out and throw away the rest. (Or sell the rest on eBay for spare parts, there's often a good market for broken laptops for spares).

Bigmoney2

stator wrote: »

If you're throwing the laptop away then just take the hard drive out and throw away the rest. (Or sell the rest on eBay for spare parts, there's often a good market for broken laptops for spares).

I just wanted to clear it before removing, I've still got a hard drive from my old desk top gathering dust, and I thought that I cleared that one by formatting it, but can't remember what OS it had..

enfield_freddy

you might want to download and register this http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/ only available as a freebee for 24 hrs


with this and a suitable caddy for your drive , you should get what you wanted .


don,t know if the programme is any good , decide yourself

Bigmoney2

Thanks, Just tried the giveaway of the day link, and it just goes round in circles, downloaded it and tried to wipe files, it asks to register, have put in the codes in the read me file whixh it accepts then when I try to use it goes back to asking for registration again unless I click on the buy now tab.