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How do I format my hard drive?

Awhile back, we answered a question about what to do when it was time to retire an old computer; one of the first steps we recommended was to reformat your hard drive to erase all the data. A DeGeeked reader wrote in to ask how to go about doing that. And while we typically try to stay out of the "how to" type questions, we can provide some options for the different ways this can be accomplished.

When reformatting a hard drive (or any electronic device), you are essentially starting from scratch and removing all the information that was on it in one fell swoop. The easiest way to do this is one of the three options below:

1. Use your operating system's install disk to reformat your hard drive reinstall Windows (or whatever your OS happens to be). You will need your original disk that came with your machine; insert that disk and restart, then follow these directions.
   
2. If you no longer have your system disk, you may want to consider downloading a free operating system such as Ubuntu, which you can use in nearly the same fashion as number one.
3. And if both of these options are a bit scary, and you want to be sure you get everything, you can purchase a program such as Wipedrive that will take you through the process step by step.

And remember, when reformatting your drive there is little damage you can do, since you are looking to remove everything anyway. But be wise, and be sure you backup EVERYTHING off your machine before you pass it on.