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Computer Wipe

StragintStragint Do Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered User regular
in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
I just bought a new PC and I want to wipe my old tower PC but I do not have system restore discs. How would I go about doing this? I still want it to be usable, just nothing left on it.

PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak

I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.

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    LD50LD50 Registered User regular
    What version of windows is it running?

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    StragintStragint Do Not Gift Always DeclinesRegistered User regular
    I upgraded it to windows 10

    PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
    What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak

    I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
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    LD50LD50 Registered User regular
    Your windows 10 license is tied to your hardware. You can download an image of windows 10 straight from Microsoft, put it on a usb drive, and reinstall it from scratch.

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    tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    If you are going to sell or donate your old PC you may want to consider using DBAN to completely wipe your hard drive before reinstalling Windows 10.

    http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15817/wipe-delete-and-securely-destroy-your-hard-drives-data-the-easy-way/

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    StragintStragint Do Not Gift Always DeclinesRegistered User regular
    I started wiping it last night. It has been at 30% for about 8+ hours now. Kind of worried this is not going well.

    Both my PCs are being very frustrating now.

    PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
    What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak

    I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
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    wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    For future reference, Windows 10's PC reset also has a setting where it'll write zero's to the hard drive, and leave it with a clean windows 10 install after.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
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    ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Stragint wrote: »
    I started wiping it last night. It has been at 30% for about 8+ hours now. Kind of worried this is not going well.

    Both my PCs are being very frustrating now.

    Those wipes can take a long time, but that sounds excessive. Are you sure the hard drive isn't starting to fail?

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
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    StragintStragint Do Not Gift Always DeclinesRegistered User regular
    edited January 2016
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    Stragint wrote: »
    I started wiping it last night. It has been at 30% for about 8+ hours now. Kind of worried this is not going well.

    Both my PCs are being very frustrating now.

    Those wipes can take a long time, but that sounds excessive. Are you sure the hard drive isn't starting to fail?

    It might be, I do not know for sure. Is there a way to check or to stop the wipe?

    I am very annoyed with how frustrating both my old and new PC are being.

    Edit: The new PC I have is doing something dumb. I have a C drive with 110 GB and a D drive with 1TB. Is there anyway to make the D drive the main one or make it so everything installs into the drive instead of the C drive?

    Stragint on
    PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
    What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak

    I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
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    TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    Hmm you could set up a symlink pointing at the larger drive, though those can get questionable. I think for things like Steam you can specify a preferred install location.

    steam_sig.png
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    StragintStragint Do Not Gift Always DeclinesRegistered User regular
    So the pc was stuck at 30% for another 24 hours or so. Lost power at some point and now the pc keeps trying to load to the main desktop but can't. Not sure what to do now.

    PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
    What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak

    I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
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    LD50LD50 Registered User regular
    Change the boot priority and make sure whatever your install media is is listed first.

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