How To: Reformat Dell Dimension 3000

How do I completely wipe clear my hard drive for re-sell?
The common commands of F12, F8, and Ctrl+F11 do not give me any options pertaining to reformating.

Dell Dimension 3000, that runs Win XP.

I do not have Win XP OS on a disk, nor do I have the recovery disk. I also do not have any of the CDs that came with the computer.

I am not interested in keeping a working OS.

I am only interested in wiping the hard drive so that I can re-sell it.

 

Note that reformatting will not necessarily destroy all of your personal data. I recommend that you delete as much as possible manually, first (be sure to select "Show Hidden Files and Folders" on the "View" tab, under "Folder Options", first). Then run CCleaner, available at http://ccleaner.com, with the "Wipe Empty Space" option selected (you have to select which drives to wipe under "Drive Wiper" in the "Tools" menu). This will really destroy those deleted files, through a method known as electronic document shredding.

You can format the drive(s) through the command prompt. Check here for more info: http://ss64.com/nt/format.html

You can also uninstall Windows through the command prompt. More info at: http://www.theeldergeek.com/uninstall_xp_from_command_prompt.htm

 

Windows will not let you format the boot drive or partition that it`s running on. If you have your HD partitioned, you can format all the partitions except the C or boot partition, unless you slave the drive into another computer. Formatting will not securely erase data though, it can be easily recovered. There are a number of free programs that work well that will securely erase a HD and make data impossible to recover .
DARIK`S BOOT AND NUKE is a good one. Download the .iso and burn it to cd as a disk image to make it bootable.

KILLDISK is also good.

If you`re really concerned and you have/had sensitive data on it, then destroy it with a torch or hammer, take it apart and break the platters up(save the magnets, they`re really powerful little boogers and fun to play with) , and thats the end of it. Hard drives are cheap anymore, sell it without one or put another one in it.

How much do you expect to get out of it anyway, i see those refurbished sometimes for around 150$ with OS.

 

The computer isn't worth much even with an operating system. If you plan to sell the computer to someone, be very clear that it does not have an operating system installed. It's too old to run Windows 7, so whoever buys it will need to have their own full retail copy of a previous version of Windows.

 

i found a very good free program called hard drive eraser. it does the trick and very well i might add. if u want to keep the hard drive if its still good just remove it and sell it without the drive in it.if the drive is say bigger than 40gigs u can save it as a spare.i had a dell dimension that the motherboard got fried and the hard drive was brand new and wasnt damaged so i was able to salvage it and keep it if i ever need one.dell branded disks with windows xp arent to hard to find for whoever buys it. u might want to make a copy of the drivers for that model of computer and put them on a cd so that the new owner wont have to go looking for them.when i sell or trade in a computer i always include a copy of the drivers for whoever buys it.hope this helps.