Resolved Erase Win98SE from HDD

Hello All -

I have an old dual-boot Gateway computer with two seperate internal HDDs that I want to give away. I can't remember the size of the HDDs but the smaller one has Win98SE on it and the larger one has WinXP Pr0 SP2 on it. I plan to do a clean re-install of WinXP before I get rid of it.

My question is: Is there a way to just wipe the second HDD clean of everything on it and have it still be useable for storage?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.


Mike

 

Hi Mike,

OK, I'm a little confused. You say you "want to give away" the computer, then you ask whether you can use the drive for storage. Then you say you plan to do a reinstall of XP.

Where and on what are you planning to install XP?

Anyway, there's good, free drive wipers that'll do the job. Or, get the HDD's mfg Tools and re-write the drive to all zeros. Or, if you just want to use the drive for storage, reformat it like Pete says. Just be careful of what you're clicking.

However, another suggestion is to hook up the drive you want to work on as Master (no other drives connected)(don't forget to jumper it to Master, too) and then do your thing. You can make a Startup disk, insert it then boot. You'll have the option of formatting the drive at the "A:\" prompt; i.e. "A:\format C:\ ".

 

Pete & Chris -

Thanks for the posts. I guess that does sound a little confusing, wanting to go to all that trouble to give something away. I'll be re-installing WinXP on the larger of the 2 HDDs before giving the computer to my step daughter. She has a lot of music and pictures on her ancient old Gateway and she has just about run out of room. My old Gateway has a burner and about 3 times as much space with 2 HDDs as her old clunker does. I'll get some benefit from this, too. I'll get it out of my tiny home office and won't have to move it or trip over it anymore. Thanks for the help.


Mike

 

Hi Mike,

You say you'll be installing XP on the larger HDD. Are you then going to take out the HDD and put it into another computer? Or, are you just going to install a "fresh" copy of XP and then give it to your daughter?

Also, if the computers are that old, there's a great chance of it\them dying. If so, and the HDD is goes bad, she'll lose everything.

I would wholeheartedly recommend that you teach her (if she doesn't already know) how to burn all her pics, music, etc., to CD. That way, in case of catastrophic failure, she hasn't lost all her goodies.

I would also suggest that you buy good CDs. I've found the cheaper ones are, well, cheap; and the media is more prone to corruption.

 

Thanks for the post, Chris.

The "give-away" computer isn't all that old. Hers is old, slow and has very limited free space.

The one I'm giving away has two good HDDs in it, a burner and lots of RAM. The biggest reason I'm giving it up is that it is huge and it takes up more space than I really have. It measures slightly more than 20 "h x 17 "d x 8 "w.

My step daughter is pretty computer-savvy and has been asking me for it for a long time. I just want to wipe both of the drives clean and get all my old business stuff off of it and re-install WinXP Pro so she can start out with a cleaner and better machine than she has now.

Thanks for all your help, guys.


Mike

 

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the post-back. Wipe the 2nd drive and reinstall a fresh copy of XP on the first and you're both good to go!