Best Way to Wipe Hard Drive?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

for your intentions---- format it.........

"PawsForThought" <darnit7@aol.comnolitter> wrote in message
news:20041227102019.06084.00001572@mb-m19.aol.com...
> I am going to be switching motherboards, creating a RAID 0 and
reinstalling
> Windows XP Pro. Before I switch out the motherboards, I need to
wipe
> everything off my current hard drive. I am assuming that I would
restart the
> computer with a Startup disk to do so. What is the best way to
totally delete
> everything on the drive? Thanks.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"PawsForThought" <darnit7@aol.comnolitter> wrote in message
news:20041227102019.06084.00001572@mb-m19.aol.com...
>I am going to be switching motherboards, creating a RAID 0 and reinstalling
> Windows XP Pro. Before I switch out the motherboards, I need to wipe
> everything off my current hard drive. I am assuming that I would restart
> the
> computer with a Startup disk to do so. What is the best way to totally
> delete
> everything on the drive? Thanks.

Go to the manufacturers support to download their diagnostic tool.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

>From: "Frank" bbunny@bqik.net

>Go to the manufacturers support to download their diagnostic tool.

Thanks so much, Frank. I have a Western Digital and I'm downloading their tool
now.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

>
>From: "JAD" kapasitor@charter.net

>for your intentions---- format it.......

Thanks, Jad. I ended up using the utility for my hard drive that wipes it with
0's. Installing everything now (I'm on my old 200 MHz HP)

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Format the harddrive. That will clear the harddrive of files.

--
DaveW



"PawsForThought" <darnit7@aol.comnolitter> wrote in message
news:20041227102019.06084.00001572@mb-m19.aol.com...
>I am going to be switching motherboards, creating a RAID 0 and reinstalling
> Windows XP Pro. Before I switch out the motherboards, I need to wipe
> everything off my current hard drive. I am assuming that I would restart
> the
> computer with a Startup disk to do so. What is the best way to totally
> delete
> everything on the drive? Thanks.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 00:13:29 GMT The moonlight laughed on the blade's
edge when "DaveW" <none@zero.org> wrote :

>Format the harddrive. That will clear the harddrive of files.

Sigh  



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
remove obvious to reply
email shep@obviouspartyheld.de
Free original songs to download and,"BURN"  )
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

>: "DaveW" none@zero.org

>Format the harddrive. That will clear the harddrive of files.

Thanks, Dave. Because I'm building a RAID, I wanted to start with 2 drives
that were completely clean, so that's why I used the utility that overwrites
the drive with 0's. So I'm not sure if just a simple formatting would have
worked.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

In article <20041228091418.09660.00001881@mb-m20.aol.com>, darnit7
@aol.comnolitter says...
> Thanks, Dave. Because I'm building a RAID, I wanted to start with 2 drives
> that were completely clean, so that's why I used the utility that overwrites
> the drive with 0's. So I'm not sure if just a simple formatting would have
> worked.
>
___________________________________________________________

Do you have a *serious* security issue? If so, just formatting or even
writing the disk with zeros is not sufficient. Top security experts say
the disk must be rewritten many times with different procedures to be
really safe. Believe it or not, a disk written over once or twice can
have its data recovered by using some very sophisticated techniques.

But if you are just an average user like most of us, a simple format is
enough.

--
Bill, W6WRT

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"PawsForThought" <darnit7@aol.comnolitter> wrote in message
news:20041228091418.09660.00001881@mb-m20.aol.com...
> >: "DaveW" none@zero.org
>
>>Format the harddrive. That will clear the harddrive of files.
>
> Thanks, Dave. Because I'm building a RAID, I wanted to start with 2
> drives
> that were completely clean, so that's why I used the utility that
> overwrites
> the drive with 0's. So I'm not sure if just a simple formatting would
> have
> worked.

You are on the right track. If you want a clean disk, return it to a raw
state.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

>Bill Turner noway@nohow.com

>Do you have a *serious* security issue? If so, just formatting or even
>writing the disk with zeros is not sufficient. Top security experts say
>the disk must be rewritten many times with different procedures to be
>really safe. Believe it or not, a disk written over once or twice can
>have its data recovered by using some very sophisticated techniques.

Oh no, no security issues at all. This is my home computer.

>But if you are just an average user like most of us, a simple format is
>enough.

The reason I used the utility that writes 0's is because according to my
motherboard manual, when building the kind of RAID I want to, they advise using
2 new drives. Since one of the drives had my operating system on it, I wanted
to make sure it was clean, and I wasn't sure if just a simple format is what
they meant when they said "new." Interesting about the security and how they
can recover data!

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

PawsForThought wrote:
>>Bill Turner noway@nohow.com
>
>
>>Do you have a *serious* security issue? If so, just formatting or even
>>writing the disk with zeros is not sufficient. Top security experts say
>>the disk must be rewritten many times with different procedures to be
>>really safe. Believe it or not, a disk written over once or twice can
>>have its data recovered by using some very sophisticated techniques.
>
>
> Oh no, no security issues at all. This is my home computer.
>
>
>>But if you are just an average user like most of us, a simple format is
>>enough.
>
>
> The reason I used the utility that writes 0's is because according to my
> motherboard manual, when building the kind of RAID I want to, they advise using
> 2 new drives. Since one of the drives had my operating system on it, I wanted
> to make sure it was clean, and I wasn't sure if just a simple format is what
> they meant when they said "new." Interesting about the security and how they
> can recover data!

I see. Well, no, they're not talking about 1s and 0s. They're using 'new'
as a proxy term for 'reliable'.

BOTH drives must work for a RAID 0 array to function and if one fails then
all data is lost. What they're saying is it's a bad idea to use an old
drive because if it fails everything is lost. Ergo, best to use two new drives.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On 27 Dec 2004 15:20:19 GMT, darnit7@aol.comnolitter (PawsForThought)
wrote:

>I am going to be switching motherboards, creating a RAID 0 and reinstalling
>Windows XP Pro. Before I switch out the motherboards, I need to wipe
>everything off my current hard drive. I am assuming that I would restart the
>computer with a Startup disk to do so. What is the best way to totally delete
>everything on the drive? Thanks.


There are various utilities that will do this. Norton Utilities will
wipe a disk with 1's and 0's several times using government standards.
It will wipe the unused areas as well. But, it is still possible to
retrieve data using (expensive) equipment. To completely destroy
data, the hard drive must be destroyed with a heavy sledge and a
"hammering action." If you don't care about retrieval of sensitive
data, just boot from a floppy or CD and use the disk partitioning
utility then format.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

>From: David Maynard dNOTmayn@ev1.net

>BOTH drives must work for a RAID 0 array to function and if one fails then
>all data is lost. What they're saying is it's a bad idea to use an old
>drive because if it fails everything is lost. Ergo, best to use two new
>drives.

Ahhh, got it. Oh well, it's clean now and I've got the RAID set up in the
BIOS. Going to install the OS now and keeping my fingers crossed that it
works. Thanks  

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Shep©" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:vs91t01796q9hpk9egvuqpd89qlgacgufl@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 00:13:29 GMT The moonlight laughed on the blade's
> edge when "DaveW" <none@zero.org> wrote :
>
>>Format the harddrive. That will clear the harddrive of files.
>
> Sigh  

Yep. <big heaving sigh>

>
>
>
> --
> Free Windows/PC help,
> http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
> remove obvious to reply
> email shep@obviouspartyheld.de
> Free original songs to download and,"BURN"  )
> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

With a moist towelette?