Dell XP computer issue - how to wipe a HD?

if available. You didn't mention the HD maker or model, however. For Seagate, it's called "Sea Tools" and for WD products it's called "Data Lifeguard". Since you're looking to keep the drive and not prevent others from gleaning data from it, you just write zeros to all locations while performing hardware and surface checks. Manufacturer's tools such as these will disclose hidden defects such as drive media that cannot be written to or read from. In some cases, spare locations on the drive can be remapped to. My recommendation, if the utility shows remapping, is to discard it if out of warranty and get it replaced if within the warranty period. The utility will return some kind of "result code" if a failure has been detected. Download the utility for your drive and run it. They'll come in floppy or .iso versions. If the drive comes back clean and healthy, proceed with your OS re-installation.

To totally wipe a HD clean, I use either one of these pgms., KILLDISK or DBAN. Google and get from a trusted website and use them. Once done, your HD is wiped clean. Upon using your XP install disc, continue to use the format command to install. If you still get some errors, when either consider the HD bad, the CD drive bad or your install disc bad. One or all can be at fault, don't find a fix until you resolve which is causing the problem.

If this thread is an post to your Dell 3000 problem, then disc cleaning may not help, if the tools and devices are the same you used before. Due to wear&tear plus any aging, will cause some problems, maybe minor but enough to cause headaches. If you don't replace or swap out parts with known good tested ones, expect more of the same.

tada -----Willy