I have a hard drive that's infected with a virus which prevents Windows from booting up. The only access I have is through the BIOS, where I see limited options. Is there a way to wipe all the data from the disk, especially since some of it is important to me, without connecting it to my PC?
3 Answers
When you boot up your PC, look for a key prompt to access the boot menu, like F8 or F12. If you can access the BIOS, set your USB drive to boot first. From there, the OS installer will give you options to format the disk and manage the partitions. Just be careful, as this will erase everything!
You can try booting from a Linux live USB. It allows you to access the hard drive and format it without needing Windows. Just create a live USB on another computer, boot from it, and you can manage your partitions there.
If you're on Windows, go ahead and create a bootable USB drive with Windows or a Linux installer. During the setup, you can delete all partitions on the HDD, then just proceed with the installation to format it clean.
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