Total wipe and reinstall

[r50cheapskate]

Please don't refer me to the XP Reinstall "sticky." What I want to do is a full reinstall from the 7 IBM discs they graciously provided when a hard drive went bad, but I want to completely wipe and reformat this drive. I've reinstalled a few times, but it's never achieved a total wipe. Old settings reappearing are proof. I want no sign of anything, as if the drive arrived blank and unformatted

Is there a missing step, akin to the comforting "format c:/" of olden days to run before reinstalling everything?

[christopher_wolf]

Try KillDisk

http://killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

and, for the Image to burn; see,

http://download2.lsoft.net/boot-cd-iso.zip

That will wipe your HDD clear of anything previously installed. I tried it several times on other systems, works pretty well.

I think that the ThinkVantage Secure Data Disposal program does this, and more, but I haven't used that. You can, however, build a boot disk using it and wipe your drive with varying levels of secure overwrites.

HTH

[DataAve]

Get a hold of Hiren's BootCD v.7.xx (free). It is a must for your "tool box". PM me if you need a link or goo it. As soon as you get back up and going, b4 you install any softwares, make an image copy of your hd. I use Ghost (the only Norty software I use).

[jdhurst]

When I use a set of recovery CD's, they initialize the hard drive completely, and install the HPA again. I have done lots of recovery processes and have never seen "left-overs" from prior installations.
... JD Hurst

[r50cheapskate]

I'm not sure if there are leftovers, but I did run KillDisk before reinstalling from the CDs, and my little machine is now running better than ever. It might just be perception, but it's the same as taking a shower.

[DataAve]

Glad it worked out for you.