wiping hard drive

my neighbors computer has literally been run over by viruses, nothing really works. He wants to completely wipe his hdd, problem is he doesn't have his xp disc, what I was wondering is there anyway to wipe a hard drive without the xp disc and being able to keep the os disc?

 

Short answer to this question is no! Wiping a hard drive destroys all data on it, including the OS.

 

What if you were to get a good antivirus program on your computer (assuming you do not have one) and put his\her hard drive into your computer as slave. Then run a scan on it and remove all the viruses?

 

That would work just fine, providing that the AntiVirus application was up to date, if it wasn't then viruses could be transferred to the Master drive.

I didn't mention this because the poster didn't specify laptop or desktop!

 

Well I mentioned it 'cause I do similar things all the time. People tend to come to me when their computers screw up and the stores they bought them from have complete morons that tell them they need a new computer. *cough* FUTURESHOP *cough*

 

Well i don't mind if they tell me that, cause i can tell my dad that we need to buy a new one.

 

how bad could I damage my computer by putting it in as slave.

 

Technically, if you were to put the virus filled hard drive into your computer as a slave then you could get viruses onto your master hard drive. If you have a good anti virus program like Avast then it shouldn't be a problem. If you're talking about hurting your actual computer, as in shorting something out, then I don't think you need to worry. Just make sure everything is up to date and as a precaution you should back up anything important.

 

I tried to reinstall my Os in hopes of also wiping HD clean.I did not work nothing changed all programs are still there.Where did I go wrong? Can anyone walk me through this process so it will be done right .Just wipe it clean as if it was new and load everything back.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the pay version of Killdisc is able to wipe everything except the operating system.

But that doesn't ensure there will be no malware left.

If you are wanting to kill malware, you should go to the spyware forum here and follow the loooooooooonnnnnnnggg sticky, lol.


It's a pain, for sure. But it will work.

 

blenz52,

Welcome to Major Geeks! It is always better to start your own thread on a particular problem, you will get more help and advice that way! This thread is nearly 3 years old!

With that being said, it would be helpfull to know what OS that you are trying to reinstall, exactally what you did, what type of computer you have, and whether the media that you used to try and reinstall the OS was a Recovery CD or a Windows CD.

There shouldn't be a need to purchase software for this, as there are freeware apps as well as the hard drive manufacturers software that can zero the hard drive to an as shipped condition minus the wear. :major

 

:yum

 

How do go about getting rid of this virus,malware what ever it is?How do I do it,where can I find what ever I need .

 

Perhaps I misunderstood your original post, but I thought that you wanted to wipe your hard drive and reinstall the OS! If you are wanting to rid your system of malware, then the link that ComputerGate referred to is this, http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407. Please be sure to read and follow all instructions fully!

Sorry for the misunderstanding, and you did a great job of mixing my post with your reply!