clean reinstall of windows on dell xps 1530 using bundled software from dell?

i wanted to delete my laptop hard drive and reinstall the os that came on the media with the laptop originally.

i booted from the windows disk and reinstalled windows but this did not delete my hard drive and even worse it made a windows.old folder with all my old junk on my c drive

how do i get a clean/ deleted c drive with new install of my os?

i have a small 120 Gig solid state hard drive with just one partition. i would like to create two partitions on the new install.

my main issue is not being able to get a clean install such that the result is a pure windows laptop with no junk files that have accumulated over time.

please advise.

kacalapy

Posted 2011-01-09T00:32:42.930

Reputation: 525

Answers

Check out Gparted. Should do the trick for you.

Publiccert

Posted 2011-01-09T00:32:42.930

Reputation: 143

ok i want to keep it simple so lets not partition and just remove everything and start from a clean windows install – kacalapy – 2011-01-09T00:45:56.087

Then you're at the mercy of your Windows disk. – None – 2011-01-09T00:46:53.197

@Jeffrey Taylor, DBAN, or another disk-wipe utility would be much simpler and basically do the same thing. – Zoredache – 2011-01-09T00:58:17.947

@Zoredache, I don't really consider Gparted to be much more complicated than DBAN. Frankly, DBAN can be pretty intense for a newbie. My recommendation stands. – None – 2011-01-09T01:00:34.957

Download DBAN, do a quick erase of the disks, which will overwrite everything with zeros.

Zoredache

Posted 2011-01-09T00:32:42.930

Reputation: 18 453

after using dban will i be able to boot to cd and install windows? – kacalapy – 2011-01-09T00:59:43.280

wont running dban erase dban itself? can i get a link on how to run it? – kacalapy – 2011-01-09T01:00:15.073

Download the ISO, burn to a CD, boot it up. On then menu choose quick erase. Since it is on a CD, it can't erase itself. – Zoredache – 2011-01-09T08:07:51.750

Even doing a clean install, you'll still have a windows.old folder as it contains folders and files from your previous iteration of Windows. It is possible to delete it, however, by typing in Disk Cleanup in the search bar in the Start menu.

w7pro

Posted 2011-01-09T00:32:42.930

Reputation: 692

During a Windows install, doesn't it give you the option of formatting the drive before installing the OS on it? – martineau – 2011-01-09T11:53:23.123