How do i wipe a whole hard drive, OS and all?

IknowLITTLE

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im pretty noob and was just wondering how to wipe it ALL

It would be done on xp if that matters
 
ok idk what format means, and theirs a virus on it is why i want to uninstall EVERYTHING (may sound really dumb but can the virus get on the computer thats used to re format it?). and reinstall the os. of course moving all the needed data to an external.
 
Is it a SATA or IDE drive?

Locate a SATA or IDE to USB bridge, connect the drive to another computer and take the needed data off.

Then, go into Computer Management (Control Panel -> admin tools, or right click my computer and select manage), open up Disk Management, right click the disk you want to erase and select format. Formatting applies a 'format' or filesystem to a drive, in the process removing the old filesystem and everything that was stored in it.
 
bro its 2000 dell that im tired of hearing my mom complain about how slow it is. i dont have the slightest clue as to what kinda hd it has. when i format with a windows 7 computer will it install windows 7? because that hard drive cant be more than 200gb and windows 7 is a bit bulky right? plus this laptop has 64 bit so the little ram thats on their is going to be reduced more if it does take this os..
 
If you're going to install XP on it, you can just do the XP installation, and format in there!

format means wiping the hard drive. which is what you're looking for.
 
Actually, if you format the hard drive most of the data is still there but the file table isnt. These files can be recovered easily.
If you actually want to wipe the hard drive. You will need to use a program such as DBAN.
 
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