And some people wipe their Windows hard disk for reinstalling system. Wiping the Windows disk and having a fresh reinstallation is a good way to deal with those issues and to speed up your computer. When it comes to wiping a Windows XP hard drive, people may want to reset their computers to default settings or insert the system disk into another computer to format it. Default resetting will delete programs, data and restore settings, system back to the original condition. And formatting just hides data from the operation system and rebuilds its file system.
It is a professional data destruction tool to erase data on a disk clean by overwriting data. And thanks to its intuitive interface, all operation can be done in a few steps. You can download it and follow the steps below to see how it works.
And it is safer than zero-filling method. So it is one of the most common data destruction ways to dispose personal data. Note whether you have the software CDs to extra devices such as printers or software you may have purchased. If you downloaded them, then ensure that you either can re-download them or backup those files so you are able to re-install them after you reformat your computer. You may also want to note the make and model of your devices. Once inside the Device Manager, you can click on each category to see what devices are installed.
Method 2. You may also use the Windows XP Setup disks. If using the disks you will have to install each disk when prompted during the setup. Press any key to boot from CD when prompted. This prompt will appear shortly after the POST power-on self test. Go to source. Press the F8 key to agree to the Microsoft end user license agreement when prompted to do so.
Since there is already an existing Windows XP installation you may receive a prompt to repair it. Press the ESC key to bypass this option and continue formatting the disk. Select each field that does not say "Unallocated Space. Use the arrow keys to select fields to be deleted. Press the D key to delete each field. When prompted, press the L key to confirm partition deletion. This will clear old data from the hard drive of the computer.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 until the only field left is "Unallocated Space. Press enter to create a new partition of the maximum size.
Method 3. Use the arrow keys to select the new partition. Press enter to install Windows XP to the unallocated space. This will be followed by a list of installation options. Select Quick Format installation. You will want to select the NTSF file system. That is the preferred file system of Windows XP. If you're reformatting to recover from error, you will want to do a Full Format otherwise your error may still exist.
The PC should restart, then select your language and local preferences when prompted to do so. There are quick selection options or you can click on custom settings to receive more options. Enter your desired password. When the administrator password prompt comes up you can enter your desired password. Pick a password only you would know, but difficult enough for anyone else to guess.
Method 4. Get your disc or thumb drive containing your backup. Place your backup in the appropriate drive to restore the documents you backed up before starting this procedure and re-install your applications. Click on the "Start" menu. This is located in the lower left hand corner of the screen. To restore your backup, choose "All programs" and "Accessories. Select "Restore Files and Settings. In the Allocation unit size textbox, choose Default. The best allocation size based on the size of the hard drive will be chosen.
It's not at all common to set a custom allocation unit size when formatting a hard drive in Windows. Next is the Perform a quick format checkbox. Windows will check this box by default, suggesting that you do a "quick format" but we recommend that you uncheck this box so that a "standard format" is performed.
In a standard format , each individual "part" of the hard drive, called a sector, is checked for errors and overwritten with a zero—a sometimes painfully slow process. This procedure ensures that the hard drive is physically working as expected, that each sector is a reliable place to store data, and that existing data is unrecoverable.
In a quick format , this bad sector search and basic data sanitization is skipped entirely and Windows assumes that the hard drive is free of errors. A quick format is very fast. You, of course, can do whatever you like—either method will get the drive formatted.
However, especially for older and brand new drives, we'd prefer to take our time and do the error checking right now instead of letting our important data do the testing for us later on.
The data sanitization aspect of a full format is nice, too, if you're planning on selling or disposing of this drive. The final format option is the Enable file and folder compression setting that is unchecked by default, which we recommend sticking with. The file and folder compression feature allows you to choose files or folders to be compressed and decompressed on the fly, potentially offering considerable savings on hard drive space.
The downside here is that performance can be equally affected, making your day-to-day Windows use much slower than it would be without compression enabled. File and folder compression has little use in today's world of very large and very inexpensive hard drives.
In all but the rarest occasions, a modern computer with a large hard drive is better off protecting all the processing power it can and skipping on the hard drive space savings. Review the settings you've made in the last several steps and then click OK.
As a reminder, here's what you should see:. Look back at whatever previous steps you need to if you're wondering why these are the best options. Windows is usually pretty good about warning you before you might do something damaging, and a hard drive format is no exception. Click OK to the warning message about formatting the drive. Just as the warning says, all the information on this drive will be erased if you click OK.
You can't cancel the format process halfway through and expect to have half of your data back. As soon as this starts, there's no going back. There's no reason for this to be scary but we do want you to understand the finality of a format. The hard drive format has begun! If you chose a quick format , your hard drive should only take several seconds to format. If you chose the standard format , which we suggested, the time it takes the drive to format will depend almost completely on the size of the drive.
A small drive will take a small amount of time to format and a very large drive will take a very long time to format. Your hard drive's speed, as well as your overall computer's speed, play some part but the size is the biggest variable.
There's a little overhead involved so don't worry if your drive isn't completely empty. That's it! Your hard drive has been formatted and it's ready for use in Windows. You can use the new drive however you want—back up files, store music, and videos, etc.
If you'd like to change the drive letter assigned to this drive, now is the best time to do that.
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