dcogent1

My situation is this...I have my parents old computer which I intend to salvage for parts..It has a seagate 80GB HD (which currently runs/ran on XP) that has been badly infected with viruses, malware, spyware of all types im sure...I want to save some money and convert this internal HD to a external HD, but I need to know two things:

1. If I find a way to totally reformat this HD, erasing everything, is it safe to use as only storage device..considering the virus issues (Also whats the best way to reformat and completly erase all info/data from the seagate HD to ensure no virus remnants are left over on it), or should I go through the steps that were used by the wise individuals who work this forum to clean and rid my current CPU of viruses, malware and spyware (DDS scan, GMER scan, Combo fix, hijack this, ect)

2. And if i can safely reformat this HD with no worries, does it need to have the XP OS reinstalled after reformatting to be used for the storage only purpose to be compatable(recognizeable) by my current computer, once put into a HD enclosure and connected via USb/firewire, ect?

Thanks for your time!!

Tumbleweed36

The best all around way to clean this drive is with a program called Dban. It will be clean as a whistle if you run this program on the drive and would be safe to use in another computer when done IMHO:

Dban Complete Disk Eraser

Please note: Be sure you have all disks unhooked that you do not want formatted and cleaned, because this program while great has the capability to erase multiple disks at one time if hooked to the computer.

Doby

Yep just use dban and you will be safe, keep in mind though after you use dban you will have to format the drive for another computer to recognize it.

There is no need to have a operating system installed on a storage drive but also keep in mind if you format it using the ntsf file system a windows 98 or ME computer won't see it so if you plan on connecting it to one of these machines format it with fat32

dcogent1

Great man....you guys saved me some time and money....you reply are greatly appreciated....Thanks!!

Tumbleweed36

You are most welcome. Let us know if either Doby or I can help further.

dcogent1

Ok guys...now I have a problem.....first off I took the advice you gave and downloaded the D ban disk eraser to cd and extracted the files to the cd and burnned them there....I tried to boot the disk at startup on the unit(CPU2-damaged unit) which contained the harddrive I wanted to erase...Nothing happened, I didnt even get a startup screen or anythig giving me a option to go to the bios and change settings ort anything....I just go a black screen which stayed that way....turrned the unit(CPU2) on and off a couple of times....still a black screen(maybe it has been formatted or damaged?).....So i got a bright Idea and disconnected the HDD(2) from CPU2 and plugged it into my working unit(CPU1), after disconnecting the HDD(1) from CPU1......

Then I tried running DBan from CPU1 with HDD(2) installed and I got the system startup screen (the one before it shows user accounts)but nothing after that....in other words dban didnt format it.....Here is my problem

When I put everyhting back together I cannot locate my CD Drive or My DVD drive under "My Computer"....Windows wont even prompt me on what action to take once I insert a cd or dvd...I ran system restore but nothing worked....checked some websites, went to microsoft and they asked me to run some program to remove uper and lower registries(whatever that is), restarted my cpu and still nothing.......Did i accidently do something wrong? They dont even show up in my hardware profiles......Help if you can....thx

Tumbleweed36

Assuming you have not changed any cables, try clearing the CMOS and see if you can see the cd drives after you have rebooted and cleared it.

Also, please clear something up for me. You talk about CPU1 and CPU2. Since the CPU acronym designation means the processor, exactly what are you referring to in these instances. I just could not imagine what you are talking about hooking a hard drive to processor1 or processor2. Help and clarify.

dcogent1

Sorry....Im a noob when it comes to all the technical jargon.....Basically I have two computers...one in Great shape(thanks to this site) free of viruses and malware....I have another (CPU2) which, the last time it was used (over a year ago) was infested with viruses and everything else....I basically wanted to clean/format the HDD from my bad computer to be used as a external storage....To do this i was told to use Dban.....since I could not get my bad computer to boot up, i took the HDD out and put it into my good computer...tried to boot it up and run Dban but didnt get it to work properly....does this make more sense??

havent changed any cables....what is CMOS and how do I clear it?

Thx

Tumbleweed36

Clearing CMOS can be achieved by pulling the plug from the wall and then removing the motherboard battery (there is also a jumper method) for a few minutes. Put the battery back and then plug it in and try it. Let's for now just work with the computer which is not working properly. That way, we aren't trying to solve an issue using two different things.

Clear the CMOS on the 2nd one (that you want to format) and see what happens when you turn it on. Describe exactly what happens. I suspect on changing things around, we have maybe altered a cable or setting which makes it not work properly.