Wipe free disk space on vintage computer?

[nlinecomputers]

I just want to wipe the data and deliver a working computer. I don't want to wipe out the OS, it needs to boot and run. I'd rather not reinstall the OS after a wipe, just wipe the blank space.

I would think to a collector having the original drive would make it more valuable / authentic.

Hopefully my 14 pin to 15 pin VGA adapter arrives before too long so I can fire this thing up and make sure it all works.

Wiping the OS is the fasted way to do that. Have you ever installed DOS? It is 3 floppy disks. Takes 20 minutes tops. Besides, to be legal you can't sell the computer without the OS disks. If you don't have them, then you should just blank the drive. A collector will likely have the software they want to put on it.

 

[timeshifter]

Maybe this can work (from another PC):
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/sdelete.aspx

Or "WipeFree" -> http://www.uwe-sieber.de/util_e.html

Yes, sdelete.exe was the program I've used in the past to clear free space.

I won't be able to try anything until I get the 14-15 pin VGA adapter so I can try to boot it up. (Yes, I could pull the drive now, but want to see if / how it works before doing that)

 

[timeshifter]

Wiping the OS is the fasted way to do that. Have you ever installed DOS? It is 3 floppy disks. Takes 20 minutes tops. Besides, to be legal you can't sell the computer without the OS disks. If you don't have them, then you should just blank the drive. A collector will likely have the software they want to put on it.

Let's see...

Put bootable floppy in A drive.
Boot
a:> format c: /s /v
Formatting Drive C:....

a:>c:
c:>prompt $p$g
c:\>md dos
c:\>cd dos
c:\dos>copy a:*.*

^ I did not Google that. So, yes I have installed DOS
Crap, don't make me edit autoexec.bat and config.sys. I'm starting to feel nauseous.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Let's see...

Put bootable floppy in A drive.
Boot
a:> format c: /s /v
Formatting Drive C:....

a:>c:
c:>prompt $p$g
c:\>md dos
c:\>cd dos
c:\dos>copy a:*.*

^ I did not Google that. So, yes I have installed DOS
Crap, don't make me edit autoexec.bat and config.sys. I'm starting to feel nauseous.

Oh I hear you. LOL.

 

[Philippe]

Let's see...

Put bootable floppy in A drive.
Boot
a:> format c: /s /v
Formatting Drive C:....
[...]

Don't forget fdisk to make a bootable partition first

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

No, because in this case the performance increase is negligible. The bottleneck is the IDE controller, which if I remember correctly is like 133mbps or something.

133 was Ultra DMA (aka Ultra ATA) 133. Waaaaay after this old rig was out.
Before that was 100, 66, 33, and this old IBM above was well before that, even before ATA, it was IDE pre-ATA. Possibly 16 megs throughput but I bet it was even single word DMA which puts it at 4 or 6 or 8 megs.

 

[HCHTech]

Don't forget fdisk to make a bootable partition first

Oh man, this thread is making me feel OLD. I'm over 8 now (in dog years, that is) and I remember all of this stuff (mostly fondly).

 

[timeshifter]

and I remember all of this stuff (mostly fondly)

Me too, except after I was done with the "install" I remembered autoexec.bat and config.sys. Don't forget to set files= and buffers= something in config.sys. Oh, and if you had a SoundBlaster card you might need to exclude memory locations. Also memory management in config.sys - is it Extended or Expanded memory. The fondness wears off pretty quickly for me.

 

[Philippe]

Oh man, this thread is making me feel OLD. I'm over 8 now (in dog years, that is) and I remember all of this stuff (mostly fondly).

You know, I have a 286 sitting on my desk right now
And I enjoy playing/showing old games from time to time... So, it's not just the memories

 

[backwoodsman]

Looks like you may have the immediate problem solved; but for future reference, the Vintage Computer Federation's forum might be a good resource:

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/forum.php