erase a harddrive

[learning c]

trying to clean a harddisk and tried a few utilities, however, most seem to be more virus than format utility...

so does anyone know of any format utilities that actually work to format entire harddrives?

[CyberSurfer]

You mean like "format"? Try typing it into the command prompt along with the letter of the drive to format.

[learning c]

actually its not a windows drive

i tried this application

Dariks Boot and Nuke

and from the sounds of the online reviews it used to be great, but I think it may be a virus now... even the "quickformat" function takes 90 hours +, starts off quick and then slows down after about 10 minutes. I fear my disk has really been nuked now

the ideal solution would be a secure disk format util that can format entire harddisks and maybe even ovewrite the disk with secure patterns, i thought it would be easy to find, but i've searched for hours

killdisk also has a bad rep from other people's reviews: http://www.killdisk.com/
it probably does exactly that, kills the disk rather than formats it.

[eranga262154]

I used XP Disk Cleaner, because I'm a XP user. You can find about it more from XP Tools Software. Actually it is work from Windows 95 to vista.

[learning c]

Dariks Boot and Nuke

trying the beta and seems to be a lot faster

[eranga262154]

teh beta is aw$um

Most of them are like that.

[learning c]

well it looked like it was going to work so i let it run overnight and then tried to load an operating system and it has many problems....

trying another format now, but it looks like trouble...

do i have to rewrite every software myself

[eranga262154]

Yes you have, unless formating the system drive.

[learning c]

mbr + disk access, then write over every bit... should be so easy... then the os should format it for its use.

[eranga262154]

Correct, but normally I used full/quick partition. Otherwise it can be caused lots of problems later.

[learning c]

Correct, but normally I used full/quick partition. Otherwise it can be caused lots of problems later.

yes.

i was correct DBAN is unstable or probably a virus....

but there must be other non ms products that can securely delete harddrives ... even ms doesn't do the secure patterns...and it doesn't seem like a task worth paying 50USD for does it? and many people who have paid for such utilities have often been ripped off from online reviews.

[RobDog888]

Go to the HD manufacturers site and see if they offer a download of any utilities for low level formatting of the hd. That places the HD in the all zeros state like when it was first manufacturered.

[superbovine]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/

[learning c]

ok thanks will try those suggestions

here's an example of how much rubbish software is available for securely deleting harddisks: review of Active@ Kill Disk - Hard Drive Eraser from cnet.com: (http://www.download.com/3000-2092_4-....html?tag=dl.1)

Cons: Don't pay for the full version, I did but I never received anything. They said they never received my payment, so I sent them a copy of my bank statement plus several emails complaining and they just totally ignored me. So my advice is to AVOID THESE PEOPLE LIKE THE PLAGUE. One finale note, the free version is rubbish.

[learning c]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/

I downloaded it... seems to be a windows application...does it format an entire disk or just files from within windows?

[superbovine]

I downloaded it... seems to be a windows application...does it format an entire disk or just files from within windows?

one of the options to make a boot disk, and boot from it and do a secure erase of your system.

It very similar if not the same to boot nuke.

What is different is this application allows to securely erase things on the hard drive because if you erase something on the HD it not really erased. the DoD approved method to erase something from an HDD it to erase it 7-8 times. I don't remember the standard but things like boot and eraser allow you do this.

[learning c]

one of the options to make a boot disk, and boot from it and do a secure erase of your system.

It very similar if not the same to boot nuke.

What is different is this application allows to securely erase things on the hard drive because if you erase something on the HD it not really erased. the DoD approved method to erase something from an HDD it to erase it 7-8 times. I don't remember the standard but things like boot and eraser allow you do this.

that's DBAN again arrggghhh....

RobDog... tried the manufacturer's website.... no utils and the hdd documentation says refer to os documentation

there must be a *nix iso that can format a harddrive properly

[superbovine]

that's DBAN again arrggghhh....

RobDog... tried the manufacturer's website.... no utils and the hdd documentation says refer to os documentation

there must be a *nix iso that can format a harddrive properly

most modern ide drives you cannot low level format.

DBAN is unix. After you burn it, it boots to a linux kernel and does an erase which is different from a format. Trust it is unix, because I have a power pc verision that i use on my mac.

you can just boot up with windows install cd and delete your parition then create it and a regular format instead of a quick and that will zero all your sectors on you hdd. the deleting and recreating of the parition will erase and clear your master boot record as well as your boot sector.

[learning c]

i tried DBAN 3 times... but unstable and erratic results immediately after diskwipe and loading os, when was stable before DBAN....

[superbovine]

did you ever consider the stability is not from DBAN? All it did was erase the sectors on your hard drive multiple times. It is possible that it corrupt your filesystem table, but more than likely you wouldn't be able to install of that was the case.

did you reformat you hard drive before installing windows, or did you install on the existing parition? If you did't you need to delete your parition, recreate your c: drive then format it use the regular or long method not quick.

that will prove if it was dban. If you did all that, and it is still unstable you will have to look for other sources, or swap out a hard drive.

[learning c]

loaded a nix os... the nix os was fine before dban ... it has never had windows...

i may have to pay for a utility

[Lord Orwell]

Learning_C, Based on my experience and your symptoms, i can tell you exactly what your problem is.

Your hard drive has bad sectors on it. This is perfectly normal, but it you do an unconditional format, the computer will try to format them again, and this can make a format that should have taken 20 minutes take 12 hours, because it will try every sector in the cluster one at a time even though one sector is enough to kill the entire cluster. You need to do a scandisk on your hard drive and have it mark bad sectors. Evidently a couple of the sectors that were bad or weak were missed in the format and now have operating system data in them.
And Finally, Never, Ever, EVER do a low-level format on a hard drive. It can ruin the drive, because it is possible to erase the sector markers. This is one of the reasons you can't do a low-level format on most modern hard drives. the other is the limitation of a hard drive controller in track and sector searching. Modern hard drives don't have the same number of sectors in each track, but tell the OS they do, for backward compatibility, and there is no way to read or write the information except on certain models where the manufacturer has released a specific program for a specific hard drive. A low-level format by the wrong program will screw the sectors up beyond repair and the damage can not be undone.

[learning c]

Learning_C, Based on my experience and your symptoms, i can tell you exactly what your problem is.

And Finally, Never, Ever, EVER do a low-level format on a hard drive. It can ruin the drive, because it is possible to erase the sector markers.

its a new disk, shouldn't have bad sectors... also I have written apps and included sdelete to do low level file deletes and never had a problem, the only difference is this time i want to wipe the entire harddisk, in theory should be a walk in the park especially with a live cd that can load an os for the programmer.

the other is the limitation of a hard drive controller in track and sector searching. Modern hard drives don't have the same number of sectors in each track, but tell the OS they do, for backward compatibility, and there is no way to read or write the information except on certain models where the manufacturer has released a specific program for a specific hard drive. A low-level format by the wrong program will screw the sectors up beyond repair and the damage can not be undone.

is that true? and if so have i ruined my harddisk with DBAN?

[Lord Orwell]

As i stated, it is NORMAL for a hard drive to have bad sectors. There are bad sectors marked on it from the factory. And it is possible for a low level format to mess up a hard drive. However, just the fact it is still working at all means you didn't mess up the sectors. Some hard-drives will prevent you from "low-level" formatting even if you think you did.

[superbovine]

its a new disk, shouldn't have bad sectors... also I have written apps and included sdelete to do low level file deletes and never had a problem, the only difference is this time i want to wipe the entire harddisk, in theory should be a walk in the park especially with a live cd that can load an os for the programmer.




is that true? and if so have i ruined my harddisk with DBAN?

do fsck and find out.

[learning c]

do fsck and find out.

its not stable enough to do that


what about this application
http://www.datatexcorp.com/html/wipedrive.htm

[Lord Orwell]

run a Linux Boot disk and delete all partitions and reformat with verify turned on.
This took me 8 hours with an 80-gig drive. Good luck.

[superbovine]

its not stable enough to do that


what about this application
http://www.datatexcorp.com/html/wipedrive.htm

LOL!

Well that explains a lot!

drive wipping isn't what you need. Repair is what you need to go for :P

Can you boot to knoppix, mount the drive and run fsck? That will tell if it is the file system is bad.

What kind of hard drive do you have? You can download dos based applications that will run diags on your hdd and determine if they are bad. You get them from the vendor site. Remember this diags are for physical layer. above is the software layer.

[Lord Orwell]

Yes. As stated before, wiping can delete the records of bad sectors, which got you into this mess in the first place. In the future, perform a quick-format. It preserves bad-sector markings.
Note that scan disk in windows has to be told to perform a surface scan, because they take so long.

[learning c]

run a Linux Boot disk and delete all partitions and reformat with verify turned on.
This took me 8 hours with an 80-gig drive. Good luck.

i just tried the gparted live cd http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

except the format of a partition only took 2 seconds, so i am not convinced it has done anything let alone format the entire harddisk

[Lord Orwell]

now run the surface scan program he told you about. I haven't used that particular boot, But my Redhat let me choose full or quick format. Evidently yours didn't.

[learning c]

LOL!

Well that explains a lot!

drive wipping isn't what you need. Repair is what you need to go for :P

Can you boot to knoppix, mount the drive and run fsck? That will tell if it is the file system is bad.

What kind of hard drive do you have? You can download dos based applications that will run diags on your hdd and determine if they are bad. You get them from the vendor site. Remember this diags are for physical layer. above is the software layer.

well before dban all i needed was to wipe and start over... now well i have no idea anymore... who would have thought it would be so hard to wipe a disk

it is a samsung which could be the problem, the only part of the system i don't like.... i would have chosen a seagate

i refuse to give in to a windows format just yet although the cd has been in the drive twice

from memory the knoppix live cd is 600MB so i'd have to wait overnight (free downloads during nightime)

[learning c]

now run the surface scan program he told you about. I haven't used that particular boot, But my Redhat let me choose full or quick format. Evidently yours didn't.

tried from the terminal nothing happened

you are correct my distro doesn't give me those choices...

[learning c]

ok.... fsck didn't show anything...

however now i am back to where i started.... i just need a utility to completely wipe the disk so i can start over....

[superbovine]

ok, get that out of your head, you don't need a utility to wipe your hard drive. a wipe utility is not to erase your file sectors. it going to what is in the sectors.

the fact fsck came up good, I really doubt it is the hard drive, unless it physically damaged, but I really doubt if fsck came up clean.

Your best option is get you linux install disk delete your parition, recreate them and install the os. I have repeated this a few times.

If you REALLY think your hard disk is bad, get a new one. This idea of having something wipe your hard drive is going to magically fix your problem is false. fsck passed. no file system corruption.

[learning c]

ok, get that out of your head, you don't need a utility to wipe your hard drive. a wipe utility is not to erase your file sectors. it going to what is in the sectors.

the fact fsck came up good, I really doubt it is the hard drive, unless it physically damaged, but I really doubt if fsck came up clean.

Your best option is get you linux install disk delete your parition, recreate them and install the os. I have repeated this a few times.

If you REALLY think your hard disk is bad, get a new one. This idea of having something wipe your hard drive is going to magically fix your problem is false. fsck passed. no file system corruption.

hey thx for the advice from everyone... the dban did strange things to my harddisk, although i think you are correct there is no physical damage to it, it just needs to be cleaned properly...

i contacted a guy about the model of the hdd and if i get it i may be able to get a low level format util from samsung as RobDog said

but i can't wait for days... so i gave in and booted into recovery console in windows to use the format command (shame i know)... then i'll try to reinstall my nix distro and go from there... its dissapointing that the nix distro that i have doesn't include a format function although i did notice a newfs command being executed when it loads its files, but it still loaded on unstably afterwards and it doesn't format the entire disk as it loads in 5 minutes flat

it sounds like Lord Orwell has a linux distro (red hat) that includes a format util, its a shame there isn't a more secure stand alone utility for nix given that dban didn't work for me at all.

[learning c]

if i format and then delete the mbr dban should be removed shouldn't it?

what's the safe way to delete the mbr? Fixmbr? told me it could be bad news!

Also i could be wrong but it seems like it is almost impossible to get a proper disk wipe util, its almost like you can't even pay and get proper solid

disk wipe
proxy server
or encryption



even though they are easy to code compared to most software

[learning c]

another alternative is that the distro that i have could be the cause of the instability not dban

downloading another distro now

[Lord Orwell]

i had to use fixmbr. Once linux gets into the mbr that is the only way to get rid of it again, and it is possible that for some reason it has screwed the partition table up, which the first 4 partitions are stored in the MBR.
by the way, if you have an older version of windows, the command isn't fixmbr.
it is fdisk /mbr.