reinstalling XP after disk wipe

Question

Ok, so I'm preparing to sell/recycle/whatever my Inspiron E1505 laptop. For security reasons I intend to wipe the disk using DBAN or some equivalent. After that, I want to restore the system to as close to its original factory state as possible. The system came with an XP Media Center 2005 OS reinstallation DVD and a Drivers & Utilities DVD.

I never touched the original partitioning of the disk (a 120 GB HD), so I gather that how it looks now is how it should look when I pass it off. Right now there are four partitions on the disk:

1. A small, unlabeled 47 MB FAT partition. I have no idea what this is for.
2. An unlabeled 4.63 GB FAT32 partition, with only 748 MB used. I'm guessing this is a hidden OS restore thing, although I've never had to use it and wouldn't know how to utilize it if I wanted to.
3. The main one, an NTFS 105.09 GB partition;
4. A 2.00 GB FAT32 partition for MediaDirect (375 MB used).

So I am unsure how to proceed. Can I just wipe the main partition, reinstall XP onto it, and leave everything else untouched? Can I reinstall from the hidden partition (if it is indeed there for such a thing)? Do I need to wipe absolutely everything and repartitition/reinstall everything from scratch? If so, where do I get MediaDirect? Is it on the discs that came with the system or do I have to order it on the side?

Obviously I'm not the first person to have to go through this and I'm sure this has been discussed before. Light searching through the forum didn't get me exactly what I needed, however, so if someone can point me to the right threads or else let me know here how to proceed, that would be great. I'm vaguely aware that reinstalling MediaDirect in particular can be troublesome, so I hope not to have to do it.

mombodog · Answer

Use the built in Symantec restore to reinstall the system to as shipped condition. http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?journalid=59E60E8D8E2711DCA4F65DBCB30580AF&docid=181316     Using any other method will damage the Restore and Media direct partitions.

mombodog · Answer

I really don't see a need to wipe the C partition first, and could damage the 'links' to the other partitions, rendering them inoperable.       'The Symantec/OS restore procedure leaves Media Direct intact? '   Yes, this is the safe method to overwrite the C partition and return it to as shipped condition with no issues.

mombodog · Answer

You don't understand what I am trying to say, all those partitions are linked together in the MBR, if you use any other method of dinking with the C partition you will break these links, and they are extremely hard to repair.   Once broken even the symantec restore will not fix them.   It is a double edged sword here, secure wipe your data and damage these linked partitions, or use Symantec restore to overwrite the entire C partition, but does not damage the links.   The choice is yours.   Most do not have the skills to recover data from a overwritten partition.

lbhuang · Answer

Hey, this sounds promising. Two follow-up questions:

1. I still need to wipe the main partition first. Will this Symantec restore option indeed still be available after I do this? I take it that this is what resides on the 4.63-or-whatever GB partition?

2. The link you gave me contains instructions for restoring the OS and downloading the Media Direct repair utility. Just to be clear, I only have to do the first, right? The Symantec/OS restore procedure leaves Media Direct intact?

lbhuang · Answer

@mombodog wrote:

I really don't see a need to wipe the C partition first, and could damage the "links" to the other partitions, rendering them inoperable.

Well, what does the restore procedure do. It just reinstalls the OS? Even if it reformats the entire partition, that's not good enough for securely deleting data by conventionally accepted standards nowadays, right? I don't exactly have state secrets sitting on the disk but there's enough there that I'd like to do things right with respect to preventative measures.

lbhuang · Answer

@mombodog wrote:

You don't understand what I am trying to say, all those partitions are linked together in the MBR, if you use any other method of dinking with the C partition you will break these links, and they are extremely hard to repair.

I think I understand quite well. This solution isn't going to work if I want to be very safe. Since my system isn't actually in need of repair and the configuration isn't all that different as is from the factory state, the Symantec/restore is moot. I could just uninstall all extraneous programs and delete all my data, maybe using a scrubber to overwrite free space with 0's, and send it on its way.

I guess you've verified that if I really want to be safe, I'll have to do everything the hard way, repartitioning and reinstalling everything from scratch. Maybe I will, maybe I won't, but if someone's outlined this procedure already elsewhere I'd like to see what's involved so that I can make an informed decision.

lbhuang · Answer

@GreyMack wrote:
There may be a free utility to wipe free space on the C: partition with no impact on the MBR. You could run something like that to remove the low-hanging fruit that some free file recovery software could easily pick.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=wipe+free+space&btnG=Google+Search

GM

Yeah, I already have a utility called HDScrub that will do something to that effect.

You know, one thing the Restore option does do is make sure that all those little bits of personal information that Windows keeps around and doesn't let you easily delete are gone -- or at least more gone than if I just tried to delete them manually and hoped I got everything but otherwise left the existing OS installation intact. So I could delete everything I can think of, wipe free space on C:, and then do the Restore thing (and then maybe wipe free space on C: once again). Probably good enough, eh?

GreyMack · Answer

There may be a free utility to wipe free space on the C: partition with no impact on the MBR. You could run something like that to remove the low-hanging fruit that some free file recovery software could easily pick.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=wipe+free+space&btnG=Google+Search

GM

robinhood42 · Answer

I have a Dimension 9100 running Windows XP SP2. I have all the updates and stuff like that. I have had this computer for 2 years and a few months back the hard drive died. Dell replaced it with a Western Digital Hard Drive, but it was up to me to reinstall the OS. Luckily I didn't have any problems doing that. I had the 2004 and 2005 OS disks. I used the 2005 one. Well, after the OS was restored, I didn't get back all those Dell programs that they put on their computers. Does that mean I wiped out the partitions? Will this cause me problems? I posted under Windows XP about an error mess that I have been getting. I'll be working on my computer and all of a sudden it will says Windows encountered an unexpected error and has to shut down. Then I lose what I was doing. It stopped for a while after I uninstalled and reinstalled Norton. Now it's doing it again. I have a USB printer, webcam and scanner hooked up to the computer. Can this be part of the problem? I really need your help. This computer is driving me nuts.   Thanks,   Robin

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reinstalling XP after disk wipe

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