Ten reasons why I like Windows Vista

oh i got ya, get in with xp and then save data,.....thru safe find hiddn' file, i got ya....ah i dont have an xp start and dont mind losen data....good thinking though.....i read that xp part.....may end up going that route an findin' neighbor with old disc
-still workn' thru stuff, and sttn up some other stuff same time.....not on the ball. gotta go back do some readn' ....thanks for the advice

 

yeah, told my mom be glad she has mac

 

This looks like a job for Hiren's Boot Disk.

 

got ya, yeah pretty much no chance me findn' someone with a w2k or xp specifically from dell, give it a shot tom. ask my neighbor.....may try the other fellow linux method yet, dell still playn' there uesless checks.....
whats coa?

 

Formatting? I've never been willing to lose the data off a functional hard drive. Even if the partition table/MBR is gone, the data's there.

 

ah, i dont mind losin' data.....doesnt take me long to get back way i want....
wonder if majorgeeks has any of these format disks info?

 

If all you're really interested in is formatting, it's very simple with Linux. Personally, I'd try the USB enclosure then just delete the actual partitions off of the hard drive. If you have any Linux experience, just use cfdisk to start with a new MBR.