How do i completely format my main hard drive and make it like NEW??

[WaqarDaMan]

So i got a new PC yesterday, but somehow my friends got hand over it first. So they did the setup and stuff themselves and installed the drivers and many games and stuff. What the problem is you say? it's just that i wanted to install my (genuine) windows and do all the stuff myself and have a clear new pc no one touched (yeah i'm that kind of a guy).

So i went ahead and booted from my windows 8.1 pro disk, did the stuff, and when the option to choose the storage option to install windows in showed up, there were 2 partitions, i formatted and deleted one of them with 350MB configured, but it didn't want to leave, it just wasn't going even after deleting. then i formatted the other partition of 931gb (my hdd is 1tb)... but then the "next" button was grayed out, so i booted up again, and installed windows in it (this time i was able to). So now what i have is two partitions which i never wanted.

Just tell me how to completely format and erase my hard drive and all it's partitions and data and windows and make it like brand new? there's no important data on the hdd anyway... so please... just want it like it came... sorry for being this dumb.

 

[clutchc]

The drive doesn't need reformatting. That only has to be done once. It simply needs to have all its partitions and directory structure wiped out and reset. Use Dban to wipe the drive. You only need to use the single pass method, not the harsher DOD methods.
http://www.dban.org/

 

[WaqarDaMan]

Dban isn't working with my pc

It says something like (i don't remember correctly) "Dban might need drivers" or something

 

[clutchc]

Dban isn't working with my pc

It says something like (i don't remember correctly) "Dban might need drivers" or something

Dban shouldn't need any driver. You just boot from the CD that you made with the .ISO file you downloaded. I've used it for years on many machines and never had that issue.

Back when you used the Win8 installation disk, did you delete both partitions first? I'm still using Win7, so I'm not familiar with the interface for the Win8 installation disk.

 

[WaqarDaMan]

yeah I deleted one of 'em. first one was 350MB and other was 931GB or something, I deleted the 350MB one, but it was still there, just grayed out and the options were blocked too.

 

[clutchc]

The partition that was in Gigabytes (931) was the partition that has Win and the boot sector on. The little Megabytes-size one (350) is just the Reserve Partition. You need to delete both partitions and then do a "new" partition.