Format Primary Hard Drive with No CD/DVD

[NatBe]

Hi,

I need to format a friend's primary hard drive and he has no CD/DVD drive, so I can't use my Windows DVD in his. Note: we're talking Windows XP here. I have an external hard drive I could use that would work on his. Is there a Windows utility I could copy to my portable hard drive and use?

The reason is just to wipe the drive clean in order to recycle the PC via giving it to charity.

Thanks much for any help,

Natelle
San Diego, CA

P.S. BTW I HATE the Google interface search engine for finding previous threads. Very hard to find anything. YOu get a million PC Mech articles that are hard to wade through. The old search engine was much better to find anything. I'll post feedback to the owners.

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by NatBe I need to format a friend's primary hard drive and he has no CD/DVD drive,

What type of computer is this? A tower or laptop?

[glc]

The old search engine is still here - do you see the word "Search" in the menu at the top of the page above the Google box? Still works like a champ. The Google search is for articles on the main site, not the forums.

[MaxRat]

do you have a spare thumb-drive? load killdisk to a bootable thumbdrive and zero fill the drive...

You can also download Unebootin and the Ultimate Boot CD and nab the ISO and use Unebootin to load the ISO to the thumb drive... it will make it bootable and it had Killdisk on it as well as other various tools...

[NatBe]

OMG Having a hard time following you. My geek brain is still soft and forming. I have just downloaded Nero trial version as supposedly I can burn an ISO file to a thumb drive with it. I was thinking I could burn a killdisk or something similar to a thumb drive. I am PRETTY sure this generic PC can boot from the thumb drive. I have gone into the BIOS utility menu and it has some options that say boot to USB-FDD, USB-ZIP, or USB-CDROM. So I figure it would be USB-CDROM. I dunno. I'll try all three.

Which porgram do you recommend? I think you are saying killdisk. I'll study your reply to see if I can understand it over an iced tea. Time to go to the bank, feed the feral cats, and get gas at the moment. My friend's prob is teaching me a lot.

Thanks much(!!--I might have a q or 2 however),

Natelle
San Diego

[NatBe]

Hi I have towers only--his is a tower and so is mine.

[MaxRat]

the Thumb drive will so as a Hard Drive when it is bootable...

So you go into Boot Devices and Select Hard Drive Boot Priorities and see if the thumb drive is in the list... if it is select it as the primary boot drive... if it worked on the Boot order it should now be in that list...

I dont use Nero and I stopped using it at version 6.6 as it had an issue with burning optical drives...

For killdisk you can either use their boot utility or as i suggested and download and install Unebootin...

Then download The Ultimate Boot CD and use Unebootin to load it to the flash drive... it is very simple and easy to do...

[rjfvillarosa]

Are you OK with taking the side panel off the tower?
Do you know the difference between IDE and SATA?

[NatBe]

Thanks, Max Rat, you said:

Originally Posted by MaxRat the Thumb drive will so as a Hard Drive when it is bootable... So you go into Boot Devices and Select Hard Drive Boot Priorities and see if the thumb drive is in the list... if it is select it as the primary boot drive... if it worked on the Boot order it should now be in that list...

I mentioned that, under Advanced BIOS Features, the First Boot Device options has 3 types of USBs listed: USB-FDD, USB-ZIP, and USB-CDROM, in that order. The PC has 6 USB ports. There are 2 in front and 4 in back. The 4 in back: 2 are next to the ethernet cable and 2 are just above that.

Okay: I see this what you wrote again:

Originally Posted by MaxRat do you have a spare thumb-drive? load killdisk to a bootable thumbdrive and zero fill the drive... You can also download Unebootin and the Ultimate Boot CD and nab the ISO and use Unebootin to load the ISO to the thumb drive... it will make it bootable and it had Killdisk on it as well as other various tools...

I have to just find out if any of those 3 will actually work with any of the 6 USB ports. I don't think it should matter which USB port I use, right? And then it is a matter of finding out whether a thumb drive equates to ZIP, CDROM, or FDD in the mind of this legacy PC. It's a generic from about 2005.

Thanks,
Natelle

[NatBe]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa Are you OK with taking the side panel off the tower? Do you know the difference between IDE and SATA?

Well it's not too hard to look up the diff online and I'm a student so I have a college library too of electronic books; lots of resources. I see the cable for ID is 40-pin while the cable for SATA is only 7 pin. Appears from the verbiage inside the CMOS Setup utility that this PC has an IDE hard drive. Yes I have opened it up before.

Thx.

[rjfvillarosa]

Take the side off both PC's and see if the harddrives are the same. If they are you have two choices, swap the harddrives and use the CD/DVD drive in your machine to boot up the UBCD, or slave your friends harddrive to your machine and format it via Windows.

[glc]

IDE cables are 2" wide flat ribbed cables, usually gray or black. SATA cables are 1/4" wide flat cables that are thicker, usually red or blue.

I believe what RJF is leading up to is removing the drive and connecting it to your computer to format it - as long as you are not booting from it you can format it in Windows. Regardless what type of drive it is, you can connect it to your computer via USB with one of these:

IDE/SATA to USB 2.0 Cable Adapter w/One Touch Backup - Turn 2020-OTB

[NatBe]

Originally Posted by rjfvillarosa Take the side off both PC's and see if the harddrives are the same. If they are you have two choices, swap the harddrives and use the CD/DVD drive in your machine to boot up the UBCD, or slave your friends harddrive to your machine and format it via Windows.

Originally Posted by glc IDE cables are 2" wide flat ribbed cables, usually gray or black. SATA cables are 1/4" wide flat cables that are thicker, usually red or blue. I believe what RJF is leading up to is removing the drive and connecting it to your computer to format it - as long as you are not booting from it you can format it in Windows. Regardless what type of drive it is, you can connect it to your computer via USB with one of these: IDE/SATA to USB 2.0 Cable Adapter w/One Touch Backup - Turn 2020-OTB

Hi Glc, I remember you! I've only posted a few times over a few years but you always seem to reply. Okay; so you don't think I can just replace my hard drive with my friend's drive temporarily, as RJF first suggests, because why? Why do you think I have to attach my friend's drive as a slave or to USB? That would be easiest. -Natelle

[glc]

I would not mess with opening your computer and removing your hard drive. The USB adapter is the easiest and safest way to do this, and you will find another use for the adapter, trust me. I keep about 3 of those around here. It only has to come from Temecula, you will have it quickly.

When you go to format it, use Disk Management and remove all partitions. Then create a new single partition and do a full format, not a quick format.

[NatBe]

Originally Posted by glc I would not mess with opening your computer and removing your hard drive. The USB adapter is the easiest and safest way to do this, and you will find another use for the adapter, trust me. I keep about 3 of those around here. It only has to come from Temecula, you will have it quickly. When you go to format it, use Disk Management and remove all partitions. Then create a new single partition and do a full format, not a quick format.

glc,
Oh my, you really are omnipresent if you know how close Temecula is to me. You seem like a god around here. I mean that in a good way.

I did just take apart both PCs and my personal PC has a lot of stuff in the way of the hard drive. The other PC was easy to remove the hard drive. Both were IDE.

I don't think there are any partitions. It is just a c: drive. Period. No d:

I would do the ISO file to the thumb drive, but this seems simpler. I do want to learn that whole ISO file route though. But, later.

Geniouses, all of you! It's all work, tho, I know. I'm doing that myself right now; working at learning. Going to two schools right now.

Thanks much,

Natelle

[glc]

My sister lives in San Diego and I go out there almost every winter. I know the area quite well.

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by glc The USB adapter is the easiest and safest way to do this, and you will find another use for the adapter, trust me.

Natelle. I agree with G. you will not regret buying a USB to IDE/SATA adapter, it won't be long before you are wondering how you managed without it.
We have a sticky in the hardware forum dealing with using these adapters.
Using a USB to IDE/SATA adapter.

[NatBe]

They have shipped my adapter...

I was wondering about power supply and I see now it's all in the package and quite simple. I see you have some advice in your "sticky note" there too. Thanks!

[NatBe]

I have received the adapter today from geeks.com.

Probably will try and do this over the weekend...