Re: Selectively Wipe a Partition

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Daave wrote:
One of our volunteers recently donated a Dell Dimension 8250 desktop
PC to our nonprofit organization.

Its Windows license is for XP Home, and we do have a Dell
Reinstallation CD for XP Home (SP1a). This PC has two partitions: one
partition contains everything (Windows, programs, and data) and there
is also a Dell diagnostics partition.

Normally, I use the XP CD to delete the old partition and create and
format a new one. However, this volunteer specifically asked me to
securely wipe her hard drive first. I am aware there are a number of
programs that do this (DBAN is one, I believe). However, I'd rather
not reinvent the wheel. Is there anybody experienced in this?
Specifically, what I would like to do is wipe *only* the main
partition. That is, I would like to keep the Dell diagnostics
partition intact. I am concerned that most of these programs wipe the
entire hard drive.
Thanks in advance.


In addition to what I see others have offered:

There are sometimes 2 extra partitions on a Dell. I just had one here
that had a drive X plus a hidden, unlabeled partition. Both were FAT
formatted. One parition held diags and a database, the other the
programs for all the accesses needed to do a rebuild.
To see and add a drive letter to the hidden partition, use Disk
Management. It will let you assign it a drive letter so it can be seen
normally.

I also note that a friend gave you a computer to fix up and you are not
going to follow her wishes? I hope she's not a good friend because IMO
that amounts to lying to her. Since you've no idea what some other
"friend" may have set up for her, you need to do as she as asked, since
you're her friend.
But something that might make that OK for you to do is, Dell has all
those applications and programs right on their site and as long as it
was bought from Dell or an authorized seller, all you need is the Tag
number off the machine's label to access each and every piece of
software on the machine and download it. That way you know it hasn't
been mucked with and that no malware had made its way to either of those
partitions. Drive X is right there in the open for malware to work
with, even if it is FAT.

My 2 ¢ anyway.



.

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