Help in wiping my HDD clean including OS

[Nick_8]

Hello I have a 500 gb HDD that I'm about to give to my friend. But the problem is that it still has windows xp os. When i try to boot xp from the HDD it just shows the black screen. Now I'm planning to Fully wipe the HDD I tried booting Windows 7 and darik's Boot and Nuke from USB but it only shows a blinking dash line on the upper left

Your help will be very much appreciated

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, Nick!

You can try using your HDD manufacturer's diagnostic tool and see if it incorporates the feature of WRITING ZEROS. If not, look for a formatting tool on their website. The WRITING ZEROS low-level format will do a full erase on your drive to the point of no return/recovery, so make sure you have a backup of your essential files.
If you're trying to boot from the USB into Windows in order to erase the drive, make sure you have the USB first in the boot priority in BIOS.
Another possible solution would be to use a DOS version of such HDD formatting or a diagnostic tool which would let you do the same without booting into any OS. This is our Data LifeGuard Diagnostic tool (in DOS version), in case you cannot find your brand-specific utility (make sure you read through the features of the software and follow the instructions): http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=LbGbyI

Good luck! Hope it helps!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[aldan]

when you get to the install screen for windows 7 there is an option to delete the partitions and format the drive.do this and install windows 7 like normal.

 

[Nick_8]

when you get to the install screen for windows 7 there is an option to delete the partitions and format the drive.do this and install windows 7 like normal.

I tried doing that but it only show the blinking dash line on the upper left corner of the screen it does not continue to boot the setup of win7

 

[aldan]

what tool did you use to create the bootable usb?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there again, Nick!

@aldan has a point here, you can simply re-format the drive during the installation process of Windows. Here are some guidelines from MS about OS clean install: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/clean-install
It explains how to create the bootable USB and perform the fresh installation.

Hope it's helpful! Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[aldan]

yeah,im thinking maybe its not booting to the usb,hence the blinking cursor.in re-reading the ops post tho i think i would just put the hdd in my computer and format it within windows (right click on drive and select format) as its not the boot drive.