How do I wipe my C Drive?

Question

I didn't clean or format it before I reinstalled windows... I just tried formatting it and it said it could not be done since I have windows installed on my C Drive... are there any work arounds? It is acting like its clean but it really isn't, it really has all my previous files locked away somewhere and I NEED them gone. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

LoL, you have to make a clean installation of windows. If u previously had problems with ur windows, thats probably not going to be fixed just by re-installing windows without formatting it. Windows 7 has a new feature, restore to factory settings.This option does the formatting for you. If u are using any other operating system below win 7, you need to start your computer in DOS/recovery/debugging mode and type in "format C:" without the quotes. Press "Y" and enter when it asks whether u are sure or not.



EDIT: Its not a problem, if you are running windows 7 you can automatically do it...Just go to



Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Recovery\Advanced Recovery Methods



Press Factory condition (last option).This will format ur C drive and install the new windows as if you have just bought the computer.

Answer 2

Did you try to format from a Windows installation disk or from within Windows because the second won't work. Enter the BIOS and set the DVD/CD drive to boot before the hard drive. Put you Windows installation disk into the drive, save changes to the BIOS and close it. The computer will restart and the installation process will begin. Remove all partitions and then format the entire drive before Windows installs.

Answer 3

Of course you cannot format the C drive while you are inside your OS. It just won't allow you to commit harakiri. To format your C drive, you need to boot from an external device that contains a formatting program. Do you have your Windows installer disc? You can do it from that one before installing a fresh copy of the OS using the 'Custom (Advanced)' > 'Advanced drive option' in the Installation menu.



EDIT: Okay so doing a reinstall is not one of your options. If you previously did a reinstall of the OS from the installer disc, there would be no junk, personal files nor personal settings under your WINDOWS folder yet. There won't be any personal info on your Program Files folder either. If there is a folder named WINDOWS.OLD which may contain personal info then delete it. Afterwards, to make sure they cannot be recovered, securely erase the unused space with this:

http://eraser.heidi.ie/



You can also use CCleaner to wipe your free space:

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Answer 4

if you have a desktop go into the bois and run disk clean. Most laptops are the same way. If you have a raid array onboard(meaning on the chipset) not a raid controller card read the user's manual or go to the manufacturer's website and find out which button to press on boot up. Once there delete the raid array.

Answer 5

You can put it in as a secondary hard drive and then partition it.