Reformating,Deleting? need to clear HD

A

autoflow

New Member
Ok i know alittle about computers and i know that hitting empty recycle bin doesnt really get rid of everything. Is their any way to clear the stuff i "deleted" without reformating my computer? and is it worth the difference?
 
when you delete a file and empty the recyclebin windows stops tracking the undelete information and it is gone (can be recovered but lets not worry about that now). Basically once a file is deleted it isn't really gone until something else is written over the area on disk where the original file once resided. For all intents and purposes, emptying the recycle bin is enough
 
autoflow said:
Ok i know alittle about computers and i know that hitting empty recycle bin doesnt really get rid of everything. Is their any way to clear the stuff i "deleted" without reformating my computer? and is it worth the difference?
Click to expand...

If you just deleting a file what cromewell said is fine. If you trying to delete a program that dont have a good uninstall it can be a pain in the neck. Usually you half to delete all the files of the program then go through the registry and find all the registry keys it left behind. (I DONT recommend messing with the registry unless you know what you doing. If you delete the wrong key you can really skew up your computer) Usually it not worth the trouble to totally eliminate a program. In the few cases I have bothered it was because the program was currupted and the only way for me to reinstall it correctly was to get rid of it entirly.
 
when you reinstall windows do you format first? otherwise everything that was there still is, and quick format is no good you should use the long one
 
Thanks. I know this is alittle off topic but once this computer is back to factory im planing on taking it off the internet and using it just as storage for my music and videos. If i do this can i network it and play the music from another computer?
 
yes, you just need a NIC in each computer, a cable to conenct them and proper file sharing
 
autoflow said:
Is this a option when i put the windows cd in or do i have to do it anther way?
Click to expand...

The way I seen it done in every windows I ever installed. When it gets to the screen that shows you your partition. choose to delete all your partitions. Then create a new partition and install windows on the new partition. This will force windows to do a complete format before installing windows.
 
If you are worried about fragments being left over on you HD after a format. A low-level reformat will not get rid of all your file fragments.

The best way to get rid of info "if you've been bad" is to write zeros to your entire HD about 3 times. This will ensure the info on you HD has been over written.
 
how

just how do you go about doing this? I mean doing the "high" level format, I guess that is the best way to say it
 
the windows installer has a format utility (only need to do this if the windows drive is the one to be formatted) or you can use start->run->cmd<enter>format <drive>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top