ONE DUMB QUESTION ..
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From: diane whatever on 25 Jan 2010 16:44 OK .. I think I have been posting here for many many years so I think I should be allowed ONE really dumb question. I have just received a 320 gig drive to replace my 160 gig drive in my new Lenovo. Realized there is no operating system installed and on my way home from work I am going to decide, do I want to install Vista or Windows 7 .. I had a few issues with the touch screen in Windows 7 .. wasn't able to get the multi touch working either but ... The real question is .. What is the quickest way to erase my hard drive. This 320 gig is a swap for my 160 because they sent my Lenovo with the wrong drive. Will a big magnet do the job ?? Or do I need to take the new drive out and put back the old drive and then erase .. I am so incredibly lazy !! Mean while .. time to go home. I have a system recovery disc but it is Vista. SHEESH .. So many decisions. Diane -- SeaMonkey: The 'swiss knife' of internet communication. diane whatever
From: Jaime on 25 Jan 2010 17:35 Not that dumb, erasing a drive when you only have space for one drive in the system isn't always straight forward. A couple of ideas: Do you have (or know someone who has) a SATA to USB connector, to allow to plug the drive in as an external drive? You could create a boot disk (USB or CD) with some wipe application on it and boot the Lenovo with that, then run that to clean the disk. If your not that concerned about really, really wiping the data, you could just boot the system with a Windows CD/DVD and use the partition tools in there to delete the partition. You could even format and reinstall the OS to overwrite the drive (somewhat). Again not DoD/CIA/double-naught spy standards like booting and running some industrial strength wiping program. Probably some other ideas out there, a big magnet might work :o) -- James Bart: "According to creationism, there were no cavemen." Homer: "Good riddance! Their drawings sucked and they looked like hippies." "diane whatever" <diane(a)nope.com> wrote in message news:XrednbL7DKE7jcPWnZ2dnUVZ_v-dnZ2d(a)giganews.com... > OK .. I think I have been posting here for many many years so I think I > should be allowed ONE really dumb question. > > I have just received a 320 gig drive to replace my 160 gig drive in my new > Lenovo. Realized there is no operating system installed and on my way > home from work I am going to decide, do I want to install Vista or Windows > 7 .. I had a few issues with the touch screen in Windows 7 .. wasn't able > to get the multi touch working either but ... > > The real question is .. What is the quickest way to erase my hard drive. > This 320 gig is a swap for my 160 because they sent my Lenovo with the > wrong drive. Will a big magnet do the job ?? Or do I need to take the > new drive out and put back the old drive and then erase .. I am so > incredibly lazy !! > > Mean while .. time to go home. I have a system recovery disc but it is > Vista. SHEESH .. So many decisions. > > Diane > > > -- > SeaMonkey: The 'swiss knife' of internet communication. > diane whatever
From: Beverly Howard on 25 Jan 2010 18:01 I'll add to do what was suggested in reverse... Physically remove the current HD, install the new drive and confirm that it will boot (or run the necessary install) At that point, connect the old hard drive to the computer using a usb cable or enclosure (they should be in the $20-40$ range...) ....IF the drive is then accessible, you will be able to recover files and run wipe software on the extenal drive. If the drive is not accessible, there is no way to assure the data is removed other than to physically destroy the drive... a magnet will not erase the drive... it may do partial if the disk cover is alum but nothing will be erased if the cover is ferrous. Beverly Howard
From: 'whatever' on 25 Jan 2010 18:02 "Jaime" <NOSPAMjaimelobo(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message news:uDt756gnKHA.5312(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... > Not that dumb, erasing a drive when you only have space for one drive in > the system isn't always straight forward. > > A couple of ideas: > > Do you have (or know someone who has) a SATA to USB connector, to allow to > plug the drive in as an external drive? > > You could create a boot disk (USB or CD) with some wipe application on it > and boot the Lenovo with that, then run that to clean the disk. > > If your not that concerned about really, really wiping the data, you could > just boot the system with a Windows CD/DVD and use the partition tools in > there to delete the partition. You could even format and reinstall the OS > to overwrite the drive (somewhat). Again not DoD/CIA/double-naught spy > standards like booting and running some industrial strength wiping > program. > > Probably some other ideas out there, a big magnet might work :o) > -- > James > Bart: "According to creationism, there were no cavemen." > Homer: "Good riddance! Their drawings sucked and they looked like > hippies." > > > "diane whatever" <diane(a)nope.com> wrote in message > news:XrednbL7DKE7jcPWnZ2dnUVZ_v-dnZ2d(a)giganews.com... >> OK .. I think I have been posting here for many many years so I think I >> should be allowed ONE really dumb question. >> >> I have just received a 320 gig drive to replace my 160 gig drive in my >> new Lenovo. Realized there is no operating system installed and on my >> way home from work I am going to decide, do I want to install Vista or >> Windows 7 .. I had a few issues with the touch screen in Windows 7 .. >> wasn't able to get the multi touch working either but ... >> >> The real question is .. What is the quickest way to erase my hard drive. >> This 320 gig is a swap for my 160 because they sent my Lenovo with the >> wrong drive. Will a big magnet do the job ?? Or do I need to take the >> new drive out and put back the old drive and then erase .. I am so >> incredibly lazy !! >> >> Mean while .. time to go home. I have a system recovery disc but it is >> Vista. SHEESH .. So many decisions. >> >> Diane >> >> >> -- >> SeaMonkey: The 'swiss knife' of internet communication. >> diane whatever > Only problem I can think of with the magnet, is that I would have to put the drive in a computer to make sure it worked. I guess I am just in a big hurry to get the Lenovo up and running .. I suppose I can do that and erase the other one later. Nothing SUPER SECRET in the old drive, but I probably have saved all my paypal and ebay passwords etc .. diane
From: RT on 26 Jan 2010 06:30
On Jan 25, 5:02 pm, "'whatever'" <omig...(a)nother.com.puter> wrote: > "Jaime" <NOSPAMjaimel...(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message > > news:uDt756gnKHA.5312(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... > > > > > Not that dumb, erasing a drive when you only have space for one drive in > > the system isn't always straight forward. > > > A couple of ideas: > > > Do you have (or know someone who has) a SATA to USB connector, to allow to > > plug the drive in as an external drive? > > > You could create a boot disk (USB or CD) with some wipe application on it > > and boot the Lenovo with that, then run that to clean the disk. > > > If your not that concerned about really, really wiping the data, you could > > just boot the system with a Windows CD/DVD and use the partition tools in > > there to delete the partition. You could even format and reinstall the OS > > to overwrite the drive (somewhat). Again not DoD/CIA/double-naught spy > > standards like booting and running some industrial strength wiping > > program. > > > Probably some other ideas out there, a big magnet might work :o) > > -- > > James > > Bart: "According to creationism, there were no cavemen." > > Homer: "Good riddance! Their drawings sucked and they looked like > > hippies." > > > "diane whatever" <di...(a)nope.com> wrote in message > >news:XrednbL7DKE7jcPWnZ2dnUVZ_v-dnZ2d(a)giganews.com... > >> OK .. I think I have been posting here for many many years so I think I > >> should be allowed ONE really dumb question. > > >> I have just received a 320 gig drive to replace my 160 gig drive in my > >> new Lenovo. Realized there is no operating system installed and on my > >> way home from work I am going to decide, do I want to install Vista or > >> Windows 7 .. I had a few issues with the touch screen in Windows 7 ... > >> wasn't able to get the multi touch working either but ... > > >> The real question is .. What is the quickest way to erase my hard drive. > >> This 320 gig is a swap for my 160 because they sent my Lenovo with the > >> wrong drive. Will a big magnet do the job ?? Or do I need to take the > >> new drive out and put back the old drive and then erase .. I am so > >> incredibly lazy !! > > >> Mean while .. time to go home. I have a system recovery disc but it is > >> Vista. SHEESH .. So many decisions. > > >> Diane > > >> -- > >> SeaMonkey: The 'swiss knife' of internet communication. > >> diane whatever > > Only problem I can think of with the magnet, is that I would have to put the > drive in a computer > to make sure it worked. I guess I am just in a big hurry to get the Lenovo > up and running .. I suppose > I can do that and erase the other one later. Nothing SUPER SECRET in the > old drive, but I probably > have saved all my paypal and ebay passwords etc .. > > diane SysRescCD.org has a dban menu item which launches Dereks Boot And Nuke DOD level harddrive wiper. SysRescCD can be launched from a USB stick or CD. But you may just want to boot into your BIOS as it is becoming more common to put a harddrive wiping program directly in the BIOS. |