Wiping a desktop hard drive

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Eric Stork

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Sep 21, 2014
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Hi,
I am looking to wipe the main drive of a old XP desktop. The disks normally had that restore the original configuration as it was bought are gone. Since it is the main drive of the XP computer, it cannot be formatted there.
Can I plug it into my Win10 computer temporarily just to format/wipe it? That would not cause a conflict between Windows versions?
 
Solution
USAFRet


Download the DBAN ISO to your PC
Plug in a blank USB stick
Start the Rufus application.
Tell it the USB stick to use, and which ISO to use.
Go.
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utroz

utroz

Splendid
Nov 9, 2010
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Yes you can plug it into your new windows 10 system without any issues. Another way to wipe it would be to boot off a USB flash drive or Live CD. There is a chance that your Window XP drive could have the older PATA/IDE interface rather than the current SATA. Personally I think it is easier to just use a USB boot stick with Dban or other similar software.

https://www.pendrivelinux.com/install-dban-to-a-usb-flash-drive-using-windows/
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
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Mar 16, 2013
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Yes you can wipe it like that.
For a full wipe, try DBAN. This gets rid of everything.
A simple 'format' would leave behind the original boot partitions..
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Jun 2, 2007
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Not sure if plugging in a HDD while the system is running is a good idea, not all motherboards support hot swap like that.
BUT you can just connect the unwanted HDD and boot with it connected, just get into BIOS and make sure YOUR HDD is set as first boot device. Once Windows has started up you have several options:

1: Just format the old HDD from within Windows; Start>File Explorer>right click on The drive you want to trash>Format. A full rather than quick format will be more thorough but neither will fully sweep the drive if it contains any sensitive information.

2: Use a data scrubber from within Windows, Ccleaner has a multi pass wipe facility with a high degree of general security, just be aware it will take a LONG, LONG time!

Or, if you have a Windows install media, boot the XP system off that and use the Format option there, once the format is over, exit the installer.

Or you can use Dban instead of Ccleaners wipe facility.
 
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Eric Stork

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Sep 21, 2014
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Is DBAN something you can boot a computer off of when it is on a USB stick?
I have no way to make a boot USB with Windows XP that I know of, the install CDs are gone.
The Bios does support booting off a USB.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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You can boot DBAN off a USB or DVD.
 
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Eric Stork

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Sep 21, 2014
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OK, I must be doing something wrong.
I downloaded the DBAN ISO file onto a flash drive.
I installed the flash drive into the XP computer.
I start up the XP computer, it was set to boot from the flash drive before the HDD.
It goes straight to Windows XP.
What did I miss?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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You probably did not create the USB stick properly.
You can't boot just from the ISO.

Use this: Rufus
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
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Mar 16, 2013
171,456
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Download the DBAN ISO to your PC
Plug in a blank USB stick
Start the Rufus application.
Tell it the USB stick to use, and which ISO to use.
Go.
 
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Solution
E

Eric Stork

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Sep 21, 2014
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Done, thanks to all who responded.
 
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