I need to wipe my hard drive. When I type the dreaded
format c:
in the Windows XP command line, I get the expected warning. I’m then told I can’t because something’s using the C: drive. I’m asked if I want to “dismount.” That’s even after I’ve used the task manager to shut down everything I can shut down.
So I figure, why the hell not… I’m wiping anyway. However, even if I say yes to dismount, I’m told I can’t do that either.
Next step: try uninstalling Windows XP so I can go straight to DOS when I boot. But on the add/remove list, Windows XP isn’t there!
Of course, if Windows XP offers a way to exit to a plain DOS prompt, it’s keeping mum.
So is there anything else I can do less extreme then, I don’t know, detonating an atom bomb four miles above my hard drive?
Purchase some wiping software. It should be able to wipe the empty space. If you want to wipe the entire hard disk, then you will have to slave it into another system or use an external hard drive case (kinda the same thing as slaving, but different connections) and format in a different computer first, then wipe once you load the software onto it.
It sounds like you’ve got Windows XP loaded and then are attempting to format the C: drive. Windows is preventing you from doing that, and generally, that’s a good thing, since you’re running Windows on the C: drive. As others suggested, you need to boot from a disk other than your hard drive.
Ooooor you could drill a hole in the drive, pour a little CLR (Calcium Lime and Rust remover) in there and power the drive up. I hear it makes the Harddrive a doorstop.
I’ll second DBAN as a solution. I haven’t used it, but I use a similar utility on our Forensics box when decomissioning servers.
You can boot from your Windows XP installation CD (but you might need to alter a setting in the BIOS first).
Then select the option to do a complete re-install of Windows. At some point it will give you the option to chhose which drive to install to, and optionally to format the drive first. After the format completes just cancel the install.
Note that the maker of your HD will have a disk setup utility disk (if you don’t have it, you can get it from their website). One of the options should be a destructive test of the drive. It will write patterns of bits over the data in order to test it. Of course the original is gone.
It may not wipe the data out to DoD spec, but it’s plenty good enough for most of us and if you already have the setup software, just use it.