Windows 7 - erasing harddrive for computer donation

How do I erase my harddrive manually without having access to the internet?
The computer I would like to do this to is no longer connected to the
internet.

--
Lori

@comporium.net says...

You do not have to connect to the internet to erase the disk......Find
the manuf name of your harddrive go their site & seek out their utility
tool to wipe the drive to zeros.

Click on drive and format it.

What does connecting to the Internet have to do with erasing the hard disk
drive of a computer?
(The Internet does not a computer make...)


Boot with your Windows XP CD, pretend you are going to install the OS up
until it asks you where you would like to install Windows Xp and choose to
DELETE the partition(s) fromthere... The reboot and remove the CD.  In
effect - everything is gone (although a technically savvy user could easily
get that back.)

Better way - use some bootable utility diskette/cd you make on any system to
zero-write several times (14+ would be pretty dang secure) to the hard disk
drive.  Each hard disk drive manufacturer has one of these utilities readily
available on their sites (usually a part of their diagnostic utilities) and
there are freeware drive wipers out there (google.)

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
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The same way you'd do if it were connected to the Internet.  (In otehr
words, Internet connectivity isn't relevant to the process)

To protect your personal information and data from any future users
of average skills, you should, at the very least, format the hard drive.
You can do this using the original Installation CD.  Simply boot from
the WinXP installation CD.  You'll be offered the opportunity to delete,
create, and format partitions as part of the installation process. (You
may need to re-arrange the order of boot devices in the PC's BIOS to
boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

If you wish to do a more thorough job of protecting your personal
data, WipeDrive
(http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive.php) meets U.S.
DoD standards for securely cleaning surplus unclassified hard drives,
and could be used before formatting and reinstalling the OS and
applications.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

Try this utility (Eraser):
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=37015
Download and then burn it to a CD and then install on the PC you want to
erase files on. Use it to erase as much personal data as you can.  Next use
your Windows XP CD to delete any and all partitions, create one small
partition (10GB) and format to re-install Windows (for this purpose no need
to activate/re-register the product), create a second partition using the
remaining space available on the drive.

How to do a Clean Install of Windows XP
From Michael Steven's: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

After re-installing Windows, install Eraser again and use it to wipe all the
free space on the Windows partition and all of the free (un-used) space on
the second partition. Finally once again use the Windows install CD to
delete both partitions.

Note: The more sensitive the data on your PC the more important the above
steps become. As mentioned before only total destruction of the hard drive
is a absolute method.

JS

You can create an Eraser boot disk (floppy/CD?) for wiping entire drives,
which can then be used on the other computer - no need for another
Windows reinstall.
You can download a utility from most hard drive manufacturer's web sites
that can do this (often it is part of a hard drive testing utility).
Most of these consist of a program that you download that then creates a
boot floppy.  Inside the test program, this is sometimes called a low
level format (but really isn't), or writing zeroes to the drive.  Often
these programs will only work on that manufacturer's drives - note that
some, like Seagate/Maxtor/Quantum are all owned by one company, and the
same program will work on all of these (look for the PowerMax program).
You could also download the Ultimate Boot CD, which includes things like
drive wiping utilities, and many of the above HD test programs.

You don't require internet for erasing the content of the hard dive.
All you have to do is to get the Stellar Wipe - Safe file Eraser.
Stellar Wipe   erases selected files and folders,   wipes entire
drive, cleans unused space on your hard disk and also   removes
Internet activities (History, Cookies, Favorites, Temporary Internet
Files etc), System traces and Application traces (MS applications,
Email & News, Chat messengers, NetMeeting etc) from your computer.
Download the software from: http://www.stellarinfo.com/file-eraser.htm