# Format hard drive please help!



## juliette salexa

Hello, I want to format EVERYTHING on my computer, I need BOTH PARTITIIONS wiped out COMPLETELY!!

Becuase the only operating system I had installed was Windows XP, and Windows XP doesn't let me format the drive on which Windows is installed, I installed Puppy Linux, hoping that I could format everything from Linux.

The only thing is that I'm completely new to puppy linux (4.1.2) and I have no clue how to format my hard drives from here. Puppy Linux is nothing like I expected, it's a GUI rather than a command line, what do I do?? Thank you SO MUCH!


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## leroys1000

Use this to completely wipe your drive.
Then you can reinstall on a clean drive.
http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm


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## TerryNet

Boot to the XP installation disk or to a Puppy Linux (or any other Linux) Live CD.


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## Elvandil

If you plan on installing a new OS, the format will be done as part of its setup.

But you can't format a drive from any installed OS any more than you can dig a hole in the ground you are standing on. It is in use when running.

Or get a good partitioning tool.

Partitioning Tools-->

Free:

Paragon Partition Manager 8.5-- PPM Special Edition serial and free registration
CloneZilla GParted LiveCD (Complete partitioning and drive imaging/restoration tools)
SystemRescueCD
Gparted LiveCD
Parted Magic
Vista Recovery Disk (Shrink, expand, create, delete partitions)
XP Recovery Console CD image (Create and delete partitions with diskpart.exe)
Partition Logic
Ranish Partition Manager
Cute Partition Manager

Commercial:

O&O Partition Manager 2 (Vista-compatible)
Paragon Partition Manager
Paragon Hard Disk Manager
Terabyte BootIt NG
Acronis Disk Director
V-Com (Avanquest) Partition Commander
EASEUS Partition Manager
7Tools Partition Manager
Spotmau Partition Genius


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## juliette salexa

Thank you leroys1000 , but if I use that killdisk software while on windows, can it still format the disk on which windows is installed??


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## Elvandil

Killdisk has resulted in some systems in this forum being unable to access the hard drive or partition it again. It is intended for a complete security wipe of a drive and was never intended to be used on drives that you plan to use again.

A simple format or repartitioning is all that you need to do. Why people keep recommending disk wiping software is beyond me. If they read the directions, they would see that these things are mostly intended for drives that are going to be trashed or given away and are certainly not to be used on a system you plan to keep.


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## leroys1000

I have used killdisk from a boot disk on hard drives and have
never had a problem repartitioning and formatting them.


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## Elvandil

But why in the world would you use it at all? It makes no sense to try to "sanitize" a disk that you plan to keep. It involves unnecessary time and has 0 useful results, as well as having the risks that damage could be done. It really only causes a shortened life for the drive for no useful purpose.


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## leroys1000

I used it to wipe the partitions and get rid of the linux bootloader
files that like to bury themselves deep into the beginning of the drive.
Killdisk destroys the data,not the hard drive surface.
The free version only does a single pass and does not take
very long.
It has done a good job for me with no damage to any drives.
Does a great job of getting rid of those stubborn linux boot files
that like to mess with a windows reinstall.
But,to each his own.


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## juliette salexa

Thank you leroys1000 and Elvandil. I appreciate your recommendation to use killdisk, but if I can manage to whipe out my hard drives from a bootable linux CD, I don't see any harm in doing so.

I have made a puppy linux CD by downloading the image: puppy-4.1.2-k2.6.25.16-seamonkey.iso and burning it to a CD-R , 

but now I don't know how to set my system BIOS to give me the option to boot from the CD rather than from one of the OS's that I have installed on my hard disks. Do I have to change the boot.ini file ?? or anything else ?? and if so, what do I have to do to get the computer to load from the CD??

Thanks in advance.


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## DoubleHelix

You have to change your BIOS to boot from CD first. The BIOS is independent of your operating system. Changing Windows system files (like the boot.ini file) has absolutely no effect on the ability to boot from a CD.

You don't need a special utility or Linux distribution to delete and create partitions. The Windows XP installation disk handles this job just fine. It's a wasted step in this case.


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## juliette salexa

Thank you DoubleHelix,

But how do I change my BIOS to boot from CD ??

And yes I tried to do the formatting through the Windows XP installation disk but it won't let me format the drive on which XP is already installed.


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## Elvandil

Have you gotten into BIOS setup? You should see an option there for the boot order or priority and the CD-ROM can be moved up the list.

How did you burn the CD? Can you look at the CD with a different machine and see if it contains files and folders? If the iso file is on it, it will not be usable. You may not need to change BIOS if you made the CD incorrectly.

Bootable "live" CD's can be used for partitioning a drive because they run in memory and do not use the hard drive. So you can do what you want with any partition.

(PS. All bootloaders are removed by any partitioning tool including gparted or gnuparted on the Puppy Linux CD. So that is still another reason that Killdisk is unneeded and superfluous.)

Alternative partitioners --->

Partitioning Tools-->

Free:

Paragon Partition Manager 8.5-- PPM Special Edition serial and free registration
CloneZilla GParted LiveCD (Complete partitioning and drive imaging/restoration tools)
SystemRescueCD
Gparted LiveCD
Parted Magic
Vista Recovery Disk (Shrink, expand, create, delete partitions)
XP Recovery Console CD image (Create and delete partitions with diskpart.exe)
Partition Logic
Ranish Partition Manager
Cute Partition Manager

Commercial:

O&O Partition Manager 2 (Vista-compatible)
Paragon Partition Manager
Paragon Hard Disk Manager
Terabyte BootIt NG
Acronis Disk Director
V-Com (Avanquest) Partition Commander
EASEUS Partition Manager
7Tools Partition Manager
Spotmau Partition Genius


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## RootbeaR

juliette salexa said:


> Hello, I want to format EVERYTHING on my computer, I need BOTH PARTITIIONS wiped out COMPLETELY!!
> 
> Becuase the only operating system I had installed was Windows XP, and Windows XP doesn't let me format the drive on which Windows is installed, *I installed Puppy Linux*, hoping that I could format everything from Linux.
> 
> The only thing is that I'm completely new to puppy linux (4.1.2) and I have no clue how to format my hard drives from here. Puppy Linux is nothing like I expected, it's a GUI rather than a command line, what do I do?? Thank you SO MUCH!


How did you install Puppy or use the LiveCD if your BIOS isn't set to boot from disc?


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## juliette salexa

Thank you Elvandil, I managed to partition my disk using a LiveCD.


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## juliette salexa

RootbeaR said:


> How did you install Puppy or use the LiveCD if your BIOS isn't set to boot from disc?


At that time I had not yet learned how to use the LiveCD (my BIOS was still set to boot to Windows XP from my C drive). I installed puppy by saving some files from the LiveCD onto my C drive and adding a few lines to the file "boot.ini" instructing the BIOS to give me the option of choosing between booting to Windows XP or booting to Puppy Linux (both which were on the C drive). I can explain what I did in more details if you would like.


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## RootbeaR

juliette salexa said:


> At that time I had not yet learned how to use the LiveCD (my BIOS was still set to boot to Windows XP from my C drive). I installed puppy by saving some files from the LiveCD onto my C drive and adding a few lines to the file "boot.ini" instructing the BIOS to give me the option of choosing between booting to Windows XP or booting to Puppy Linux (both which were on the C drive). I can explain what I did in more details if you would like.


No thank-you.
Didn't realize Puppy would work off of an NTFS file system though. I knew you could store files and settings...


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