This is an old PC I have. I wanted to put Linux on it and do some experiments with homelabbing, but it’s so old-it only has 512 MB RAM and around 20 GB storage, so I don’t think I can use it that efficiently.
Also, my main problem was that I couldn’t put Linux on it because it doesn’t support USB boot, and I don’t have any CD to burn nor a burner. I tried other workarounds as well, but they didn’t work. On top of that, since this PC is full of viruses, I also can’t connect it to the internet.
So, I’m just going to sell this bad boy and purchase a secondhand PC to use as a home server.
My questions are:
- Since USB boot doesn’t work and I can’t connect to the internet, how should I format this PC so I can sell it without any worries?
- Are there any precautions I should take before selling this PC?


Assuming it’s IDE or SATA, not SCSI, the hard disk is worth maybe $20. No one who would buy a computer that old in the first place is going to be worried about the difficulty or cost of getting a hard disk and installing an os.
Well ig that’s true. Yeah ill keep the SATA hard disk to myself and mention in the marketplace that it doesn’t come with one
It’s SATA? You could just plug it into your normal Linux computer (use a Linux live boot if you need to, do not risk it with Windows due to viruses, don’t even mount the drive) and wipe it from your newer computer.
But from what I’ve seen, most people that buy these retro computers are gonna put an SSD in there anyways.