Member Avatar for iceman04

I have been given a new system which is running windows ME and want to use my current hard drive which has xp as master and the existing h/d as slave.
The problem is that I know the previous owner of the ME system used it on the web with no antivirus or firewall :eek:
What I really want to do is completely wipe the ME hard drive of everything including the boot sector but I don't know how
can anyone help :cheesy:

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jimlaver

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Quick summary and a safe, practical path forward for : several replies here (notably and ) correctly point out that using setup/format tools will remove files and let you reuse the drive, while and covered running formats from a boot environment and / mentioned standalone wipe utilities. Those methods will clear partitions and files, but they do not always remove the Master Boot Record (MBR) or other low-level/hidden areas where boot-sector malware can hide. If you really want the drive "clean" (including the boot sector), overwrite the MBR and then, if desired, the whole disk from a trusted boot medium.

Recommended workflow (safe and minimal):

  • Work on the suspect drive alone: power off and disconnect any other internal disks so you cannot accidentally destroy your XP drive.
  • Boot from a known-clean rescue medium (Linux live USB, rescue CD) rather than from the ME system.
  • Identify the target device carefully (example tools: fdisk -l or lsblk on Linux) and double-check you have the correct device name.
  • To remove the MBR/partition table and first-stage boot code, overwrite the first 512 bytes; to be thorough, overwrite the entire disk.

Example (replace with the correct device name: /dev/sdX or /dev/hdX):

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=512 count=1
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=1M

Warnings and extra notes:

  • Those dd lines destroy everything irretrievably; verify the device name twice.
  • For SSDs, use the drive’s manufacturer secure-erase or ATA secure-erase (hdparm) — simple zeroing may not reliably erase data because of wear-leveling.
  • If you prefer a GUI/specialized tool, pick a well-known utility and boot it as a standalone environment (this is what others in the thread suggested).
  • After wiping, power-cycle, verify the disk shows no partitions, then repartition/format for XP when you’re ready.

This approach combines the practical partition/format advice already given in the thread with an explicit step to remove the boot sector and hidden data so the drive is truly clean.

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Member Avatar for vasanth

I have been given a new system which is running windows ME and want to use my current hard drive which has xp as master and the existing h/d as slave.
The problem is that I know the previous owner of the ME system used it on the web with no antivirus or firewall :eek:
What I really want to do is completely wipe the ME hard drive of everything including the boot sector but I don't know how
can anyone help :cheesy:

mr
u can do one thing? just format whole hdd,taking back up
bye

Member Avatar for borumas

When booted up search for Format.exe, copy it to a floppy, restart and hold down F8, select boot to command prompt. Insert the floppy and at command prompt type A: and hit enter, type Format c: to clear the drive, or you can use the XP cd and boot from it then format the drive for an easier way.

Member Avatar for suRoot

omg, that is the most long windedway to do it, just click start, shutdown restart in dos mode, then when it restarts type, "format c: /q" this will do a nice quck format, btw, make sure you set the drive to be slave otherwise youl be back here

Member Avatar for Coconut Monkey

You can't just plug in your other hard drive with an existing Windows installation - XP will kick the bucket if the hardware is different. You can either attempt a repair through the setup CD or preferably a complete reinstall.

And while you're in Windows XP setup, you can use the built-in partitioning and format tools to wipe that old ME drive clean. ;)

Member Avatar for borumas

omg, that is the most long windedway to do it, just click start, shutdown restart in dos mode, then when it restarts type, "format c: /q" this will do a nice quck format, btw, make sure you set the drive to be slave otherwise youl be back here

Clicking start, shutdown, and restart and dos mode is fine and dandy with Win98 or 95 but not if he has WinXP or ME (if I remember right ME doesn't support DOS like 98, 95, been awhile since I've dealt with ME), he also seemed to not want to actually boot with WinME because of possible viruses so booting the other way might be a better option for him.
I also said an easier way would be to boot off the XP CD and format the partion that way-that would probably be best in his situation since if he connects just the ME drive and boots off the XP disk he can partion the drive ntfs and format it (yeah I should have said this first so he wouldn't get confused).

Member Avatar for mojo34

try to get a copy of kill disk it will clear your h/d

Member Avatar for dcc

As suggested wiping the drive is the best solution, you can download a free version of Kill Disk here. You will still need to format and partition the drive.

Member Avatar for jimlaver

I'd go with Coconut Monkey's solutions since I've used it myself. Disconnect your XP HD and connect the ME drive as single, run XP installation from CD and go to the remove/create partition and format utilities. I usually go with the Quick NTFS format, then exit installation and connect the harddrives as you want them.

You can't just plug in your other hard drive with an existing Windows installation - XP will kick the bucket if the hardware is different. You can either attempt a repair through the setup CD or preferably a complete reinstall.

And while you're in Windows XP setup, you can use the built-in partitioning and format tools to wipe that old ME drive clean. ;)

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