Cross-posted with John.

You've stated what I figured was the case. I was hoping someone might have a device that would do this easily or a program that does it fast. Remember, these are tiny little hard drives, it wouldn't take long (except of course that the OS and chips are very slow).

I'll probably offer it up as parts or to be refurbished with out the HD, like I first planned. I'm a recycler going way back, so until this has had a chance to maybe get used once more in some way, I won't send it to the annual campus computer recycling truck.

Or I suppose I could buy a battery to see if the dead battery really is the culprit, run it with the power cable so the battery isn't used much, load up the disks with ones and zeros, then return the battery after a day or two of essentially renting it. Not the most ethical solution, but one that might answer a couple of questions. Will it work with a battery? Is it just the battery that was bad?

Hmmm.

SRS