erase hard drive

[rc]

Hello group

what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing around
with an older computer and basically want to start from scratch. machine
has problems completing boot up. thanks

 

[dadiOH]

rc wrote:
> Hello group
>
> what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing
> around with an older computer and basically want to start from
> scratch. machine has problems completing boot up. thanks

You have no need to zap the HD...fdisk/format will do all you need to
do.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[Don Phillipson]

> rc wrote:

> > what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing
> > around with an older computer and basically want to start from
> > scratch. machine has problems completing boot up. thanks

"dadiOH" <dadiOH@guesswhere.com> wrote in message
news:ugseztj8HHA.4712@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> You have no need to zap the HD...fdisk/format will do all you need to
> do.

Confirmed: use of FDISK also lets you ensure the logical
drive format is FAT32 (preferable) and enabed for long filenames.
The whole process of reinstallation is well documented at
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

 

[someone]

"dadiOH" <dadiOH@guesswhere.com> wrote in message
news:ugseztj8HHA.4712@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> rc wrote:
>> Hello group
>>
>> what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing
>> around with an older computer and basically want to start from
>> scratch. machine has problems completing boot up. thanks
>
> You have no need to zap the HD...fdisk/format will do all you need to
> do.
>

eh? I though that fdisk/format would erase the hard drive. What does
zapping do, then? (And how do you do it?) Does it involve a hammer? -)

s.

 

[dadiOH]

someone wrote:
> "dadiOH" <dadiOH@guesswhere.com> wrote in message
> news:ugseztj8HHA.4712@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> rc wrote:
>>> Hello group
>>>
>>> what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing
>>> around with an older computer and basically want to start from
>>> scratch. machine has problems completing boot up. thanks
>>
>> You have no need to zap the HD...fdisk/format will do all you need
>> to do.
>>
>
> eh? I though that fdisk/format would erase the hard drive.

No, it just sets up the partion(s) and file system. Makes the boot
sector.
_____________

> What does zapping do, then? (And how do you do it?) Does it
involve a
> hammer? -)

That depends on your degree of paranoia. One could use any of many
programs to write a byte pattern to all tracks, one or more times,
thereby replacing whatever is there. "Whatever is there" is what was
there before the drive was formatted. If it is a new drive, it is
filler bytes. If it is a used drive, it is the files that were there.

The latter are no good as all information *about* them - what they
are, where they start, how long they are, etc. - is lost when the
drive is formatted. However, anyone that has a program that will read
a drive by tracks or sectors can view whatever snippets happen to be
in a given sector/track. Which is why some people like to use a
program to overwrite those snippets.

If you *really* want to zap the drive, wave a magnet over it. That
destroys everything including all track info put there by the
manufacturer when he "deep formatted" the drive. Such a drive is
unusable until it is again "deep formatted"...a very lengthy process
given the size of today's drives.

Time was when the word "format" meant what "deep format" does now.
Those times are gone.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[someone]

"dadiOH" <dadiOH@guesswhere.com> wrote in message
news:uFmA0il8HHA.748@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> someone wrote:
>> "dadiOH" <dadiOH@guesswhere.com> wrote in message
>> news:ugseztj8HHA.4712@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> rc wrote:
>>>> Hello group
>>>>
>>>> what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing
>>>> around with an older computer and basically want to start from
>>>> scratch. machine has problems completing boot up. thanks
>>>
>>> You have no need to zap the HD...fdisk/format will do all you need
>>> to do.
>>>
>>
>> eh? I though that fdisk/format would erase the hard drive.
>
> No, it just sets up the partion(s) and file system. Makes the boot
> sector.
> _____________
>
>> What does zapping do, then? (And how do you do it?) Does it
> involve a
>> hammer? -)
>
> That depends on your degree of paranoia. One could use any of many
> programs to write a byte pattern to all tracks, one or more times,
> thereby replacing whatever is there. "Whatever is there" is what was
> there before the drive was formatted. If it is a new drive, it is
> filler bytes. If it is a used drive, it is the files that were there.
>
> The latter are no good as all information *about* them - what they
> are, where they start, how long they are, etc. - is lost when the
> drive is formatted. However, anyone that has a program that will read
> a drive by tracks or sectors can view whatever snippets happen to be
> in a given sector/track. Which is why some people like to use a
> program to overwrite those snippets.
>
> If you *really* want to zap the drive, wave a magnet over it. That
> destroys everything including all track info put there by the
> manufacturer when he "deep formatted" the drive. Such a drive is
> unusable until it is again "deep formatted"...a very lengthy process
> given the size of today's drives.
>
> Time was when the word "format" meant what "deep format" does now.
> Those times are gone.
>
Thanks for the interesting info. What do you think about using a utility
like, e.g. Killdisk? Would it do the biz without a hammer or magnet? I
want to recycle a PC I bought in 1993, but don't want to leave it with
data/programs on it.

Sorry to interrupt the original posting.

someone

 

[MEB]

"someone" <someone@flibbernet.com> wrote in message
news:46e311e4$0$11435$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
|
| "dadiOH" <dadiOH@guesswhere.com> wrote in message
| news:uFmA0il8HHA.748@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
| > someone wrote:
| >> "dadiOH" <dadiOH@guesswhere.com> wrote in message
| >> news:ugseztj8HHA.4712@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
| >>> rc wrote:
| >>>> Hello group
| >>>>
| >>>> what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing
| >>>> around with an older computer and basically want to start from
| >>>> scratch. machine has problems completing boot up. thanks
| >>>
| >>> You have no need to zap the HD...fdisk/format will do all you need
| >>> to do.
| >>>
| >>
| >> eh? I though that fdisk/format would erase the hard drive.
| >
| > No, it just sets up the partion(s) and file system. Makes the boot
| > sector.
| > _____________
| >
| >> What does zapping do, then? (And how do you do it?) Does it
| > involve a
| >> hammer? -)
| >
| > That depends on your degree of paranoia. One could use any of many
| > programs to write a byte pattern to all tracks, one or more times,
| > thereby replacing whatever is there. "Whatever is there" is what was
| > there before the drive was formatted. If it is a new drive, it is
| > filler bytes. If it is a used drive, it is the files that were there.
| >
| > The latter are no good as all information *about* them - what they
| > are, where they start, how long they are, etc. - is lost when the
| > drive is formatted. However, anyone that has a program that will read
| > a drive by tracks or sectors can view whatever snippets happen to be
| > in a given sector/track. Which is why some people like to use a
| > program to overwrite those snippets.
| >
| > If you *really* want to zap the drive, wave a magnet over it. That
| > destroys everything including all track info put there by the
| > manufacturer when he "deep formatted" the drive. Such a drive is
| > unusable until it is again "deep formatted"...a very lengthy process
| > given the size of today's drives.
| >
| > Time was when the word "format" meant what "deep format" does now.
| > Those times are gone.
| >
| Thanks for the interesting info. What do you think about using a utility
| like, e.g. Killdisk? Would it do the biz without a hammer or magnet? I
| want to recycle a PC I bought in 1993, but don't want to leave it with
| data/programs on it.
|
| Sorry to interrupt the original posting.
|
| someone
|
|

Killdisk MIGHT suit your purpose, though it may not work as well as
claimed.
You can also try MHDD [hard drive guru] http://mhdd.com .

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
________

 

[Ron Badour]

What I do is format the partition (assumes there is only one), install the
system, defrag it and then use software like Eraser to overwrite the "blank"
area on the drive.

Eraser: http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ Freeware that overwrites the "blank"
data on a
hard drive.

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP 1997 - 2007


"someone" <someone@flibbernet.com> wrote in message
news:46e311e4$0$11435$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
>
> "dadiOH" <dadiOH@guesswhere.com> wrote in message
> news:uFmA0il8HHA.748@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> someone wrote:
>>> "dadiOH" <dadiOH@guesswhere.com> wrote in message
>>> news:ugseztj8HHA.4712@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>> rc wrote:
>>>>> Hello group
>>>>>
>>>>> what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing
>>>>> around with an older computer and basically want to start from
>>>>> scratch. machine has problems completing boot up. thanks
>>>>
>>>> You have no need to zap the HD...fdisk/format will do all you need
>>>> to do.
>>>>
>>>
>>> eh? I though that fdisk/format would erase the hard drive.
>>
>> No, it just sets up the partion(s) and file system. Makes the boot
>> sector.
>> _____________
>>
>>> What does zapping do, then? (And how do you do it?) Does it
>> involve a
>>> hammer? -)
>>
>> That depends on your degree of paranoia. One could use any of many
>> programs to write a byte pattern to all tracks, one or more times,
>> thereby replacing whatever is there. "Whatever is there" is what was
>> there before the drive was formatted. If it is a new drive, it is
>> filler bytes. If it is a used drive, it is the files that were there.
>>
>> The latter are no good as all information *about* them - what they
>> are, where they start, how long they are, etc. - is lost when the
>> drive is formatted. However, anyone that has a program that will read
>> a drive by tracks or sectors can view whatever snippets happen to be
>> in a given sector/track. Which is why some people like to use a
>> program to overwrite those snippets.
>>
>> If you *really* want to zap the drive, wave a magnet over it. That
>> destroys everything including all track info put there by the
>> manufacturer when he "deep formatted" the drive. Such a drive is
>> unusable until it is again "deep formatted"...a very lengthy process
>> given the size of today's drives.
>>
>> Time was when the word "format" meant what "deep format" does now.
>> Those times are gone.
>>
> Thanks for the interesting info. What do you think about using a utility
> like, e.g. Killdisk? Would it do the biz without a hammer or magnet? I
> want to recycle a PC I bought in 1993, but don't want to leave it with
> data/programs on it.
>
> Sorry to interrupt the original posting.
>
> someone
>

 

[Lil' Dave]

"rc" <rc@home> wrote in message
news:uCnzqni8HHA.5712@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Hello group
>
> what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing around
> with an older computer and basically want to start from scratch. machine
> has problems completing boot up. thanks
>

I like to "zero write" a hard drive if starting from scratch. Can be chancy
on an older system if the hard drive is starting to have problems as the HD
mfr's software will render it unusable if too many bad areas are found. At
least with WD that is the case. Also can take a long time, possibly
overnight with a real slow system.
Dave

 

[rc]

thanks but my apologies as I don't know how to accomplish that. Currently I
can only get the computer to boot us cd rom support. Its sitting at A:. Is
fdisk/format a "utility"? sorry for my novice.
"dadiOH" <dadiOH@guesswhere.com> wrote in message
news:ugseztj8HHA.4712@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> rc wrote:
>> Hello group
>>
>> what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing
>> around with an older computer and basically want to start from
>> scratch. machine has problems completing boot up. thanks
>
> You have no need to zap the HD...fdisk/format will do all you need to
> do.
>
> --
>
> dadiOH
> ____________________________
>
> dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
> ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
> LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
> Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
>
>
>

 

[dadiOH]

rc wrote:
> thanks but my apologies as I don't know how to accomplish that.
> Currently I can only get the computer to boot us cd rom support.
> Its sitting at A:. Is fdisk/format a "utility"? sorry for my

Fdisk is a program on your boot floppy. So is format. If you don't
know how to use them, learn before trying.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[Ben Myers]

"rc" <rc@home> wrote in message news:uCnzqni8HHA.5712@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Hello group
> what is the best and cleanest way to erase a hard drive. Playing around
> with an older computer and basically want to start from scratch. machine
> has problems completing boot up. thanks

Start the computer with a Windows 98 boot floppy, type "format"
followed by the drive letter of the drive you are trying to erase,
press "Enter" and confirm the operation. For example, if you are
trying to erase the "C:" drive, type "format c:".

Ben