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HP Recommended
pro desk 600
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

i want to completly wipe clean my hard drive and reload windows  from scratch

1 REPLY 1
HP Recommended

@chico321 

To actually "wipe" the drive requires two things:

1) Booting from external media -- as you can't "wipe" the drive you are using

2) Special software for wiping the drive -- factory reset only Reformats the drive; it does not "wipe" it

 

As to the first:  

You will need to create Boot Media using a working PC.

Macrium Reflect is a free tool that can be used to image and restore PCs, but it also has an option to create Rescue Media (in disk or USB form) that can then be used to bot and/or Repair your PC.

It is available from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

What I recommend is the following:
a) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR)
b) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD
c) Boot your PC from the MR media -- it will take a while, so be patient!

 

As to the second:  

You need to check online to see if MiniTool Partition Wizard or EaseUS offers a free download for their partitioning tools and if so, download and add their installation program  to the boot media you created.

 

Then, you need to boot from that and "wipe" the drive.



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