Erasing the Main Drive

• 1). Turn on your computer.
  
  
• 2). Enter the BIOS. This is usually accomplished by pressing "Delete" or "F12" as the computer is starting.
  
  
• 3). When your BIOS comes up, cycle through the menus until you find the "Boot" menu.
  
  
• 4). This menu dictates which of your devices the computer will try to boot from first. Make sure that your CD drive is checked before your hard drive. There will be instructions in the BIOS window on how to change the boot order.
  
  
• 5). Insert your Windows XP CD into the CD drive, then in the BIOS, save your changes and exit. The computer will now reboot.
  
  
• 6). A message should appear that says "press any key to boot from CD." Press a key.
  
  
• 7). Once the CD has finished loading, press "Enter" to begin the installation process. We will not be installing XP, just using the process to wipe the hard drive.
  
  
• 8). The End User License Agreement will display. Hit the indicated key to continue.
  
  
• 9). WARNING: Following the next step will erase your hard drive completely. Make sure you have backed up any and all needed data from the drive before following Step 10.
  
  
• 10
  
  You will now be looking at a screen displaying the partitions--indicated by drive letters--available. Select the one that corresponds to the name of the hard drive you are trying to erase and press the "Delete partition" key.
  
  
• 11
  
  A screen will appear asking if you really want to delete the partition. Press the indicated key to continue.
  
  
• 12
  
  Once the partition has been deleted, the drive will be effectively erased. If you wish to continue installing Windows, just follow the on-screen instructions. Otherwise, exit the process.
  
  
• 13
  
  Note: The hard drive will need to be formatted before it can be used again. Most OS disks will do this for you.
  
  

Erasing a Secondary Drive

• 1). Boot Windows XP normally.
  
  
• 2). Navigate to "My Computer."
  
  
• 3). Select the drive letter of the hard drive you wish to erase and right-click.
  
  
• 4). Select "Format" from the menu.
  
  
• 5). Ensure that the "file system" section is set to "NTFS," then click the "Start" button. Windows will now erase everything on the selected drive.