Wipe the hard drive and install linux

[arnienelly]

Hello
I have an old windows xp pc (about 5 years old). i want to give it away but first I want to completely wipe the hard drive and then install linux on it so it works for the new owner.
any thoughts?
regards
andrew

 

[Pyroflea]

Assuming you're not trying to hide any sensitive data on the drive, you should just be able to boot from the installer and have it format the disk for your without issues. You can burn the *.iso to a CD/DVD, or use a utility such as Unetbootin to make a bootable USB flash drive.

Good luck

 

[nhasian]

Hello arnienelly,

first of all I would recommend simply using the factory recovery partition on the computer to restore it to when it was first purchased. this will format the drive so your personal data will not be accessible. If you have sensitive data on the drive and need to make sure the data cannot be recovered by computer sleuths then you will want to look into Darik's Boot And Nuke disk.

While I always encourage the use of linux (Even my daughter is named Linux) since you are giving the computer away if it already has a windows xp license you might as well leave it on there or at least dual boot with linux.

Hello
I have an old windows xp pc (about 5 years old). i want to give it away but first I want to completely wipe the hard drive and then install linux on it so it works for the new owner.
any thoughts?

 

[arnienelly]

Thanks for your replies. I dont think that there is "sensitive" information on the hard drive, except, of course, there would be the usual emails and passwords and bank details etc etc .. all no use to me now but the sort of stuff you dont want floating about. So best to wipe it entirely before it gets given to a lad to learn about computing etc..
And I am embarrassed to say that all the (Dell) windows Xp discs, licenses etc got tossed out in an office move (I now use Apple macs for my business) .
So can i download a linux OS on to a usb (or a dvd), and use it to load linux onto the old pc, and then wipe out all old data?

 

[nhasian]

yes here is a great tutorial for Making a bootable USB of Ubuntu

 

[arnienelly]

Thank you all for your help
andrew

 

[nhasian]

great please mark the thread as closed if your question was answered.

 

[amdfangirl]

Best answer selected by amdfangirl.

 

[amdfangirl]

Happy?

😉