HD Install :: Please give me the frugal install procedure

No idea what you just said. "get rid of the old OS" or "getting rid of the computer" sounds like either the same thing or entirely different things, depending on whether you're talking about just software. A format is no less effective at preparing a partition for installation than a "wipe" is. Once that data is made inaccessible, the new operating system will simply overwrite the old data with new, which is precisely what a wipe does. The only part of the old os that remains visible is the master boot record, which is replaced when/if you install a new bootloader. You're wasting a half hour of your time, in my opinion, and I don't think you should be recommending to others that they do the same when it is entirely unnecessary.

EDIT: Oh, I think i get the "getting rid of the computer" difference. It's if you are physically getting rid of the machine, as in throwing/giving it away or selling it? If that's the case, I still don't think it's important unless you have something on your drives that you think someone is actually going to dig for.

original here.