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How do you erase a harddrive?
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449
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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27. October 2007 @ 18:17 |
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So I recently bought a used computer without a hdd from a government surplus store. I have an old 4gig hdd that had windows 98 installed on it. I tried plugging it in and it tells me that various files are missing or corrupt so I'm assuming I just need to erase it. So how would I go about doing this?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. October 2007 @ 18:19
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Senior Member
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27. October 2007 @ 18:23 |
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format it
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449
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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27. October 2007 @ 18:28 |
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Ok, so I googled formatting a harddrive and it seems like you need an operating system to do that. So I'm guessing there's no way to do this without an OS installed.
So could I just plug it into my computer that's running windows xp, and format from there? I also don't know how to format a hdd but I'll do some reading on it.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. October 2007 @ 18:28
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449
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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27. October 2007 @ 19:10 |
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I tried plugging the hdd into my working computer but all that did was ovveride the main hdd and told me that the hdd I had plugged in was bad. Help?
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2 product reviews
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27. October 2007 @ 19:24 |
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go to your bios
then set it up to boot off of a cd
then use your os cd format it using your
os cd to automatically format and install your os
do not forget to delete all the partions from previous installations
peace out
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AXT
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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28. October 2007 @ 01:31 |
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assuming you do have access to a computer download Darik's Boot and Nuke program from here:
http://dban.sourceforge.net/
you can install this program to boot from a number of devices including USB, CD-Rom, and Floppy.
Just read up on the website to get all the details.
Also make sure you do not have any other hard drives connected as those will also be subject for formating.
If you do get it working then this program will take a long time to format the hard drive. It will completely (and i mean COMPLETELY) wipe off you hard drive. Not even the FBI will be able to recover data afterwards. (this is also a good way to wipe off your hard drive before throwing it away.)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. October 2007 @ 01:33
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novicebb
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28. October 2007 @ 03:00 |
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Originally posted by 449:
Ok, so I googled formatting a harddrive and it seems like you need an operating system to do that. So I'm guessing there's no way to do this without an OS installed.
So could I just plug it into my computer that's running windows xp, and format from there? I also don't know how to format a hdd but I'll do some reading on it.
To me a better option is using a program like Window Shredder. It will take a long time but you can re-write over the drive using Department of Defense standard to make sure there is almost no information remaining while with reformatting you can still find some remains of information but not much.
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1 product review
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28. October 2007 @ 03:59 |
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What operating system do you wish to use? Normally one chooses the best software for one's purpose, then chooses the best operating system that runs it. There are many choices. (The best - in my opinion - are free, as is the software they run.)
What drives have you on your machine? A floppy drive? A CD drive? If your hard drive is not bootable, which alternative drive spins, looking for an operating system to boot?
(If none does, you can fix that by tweaking a cable here, a pin there.)
Gneiss1
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1 product review
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28. October 2007 @ 07:20 |
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Tomorrow I expect to be gone, so I'll assume the worst. If you want to install a new OS, skip the erase and just install the startup CD and follow the instructions. It should scan the disk for bad blocks first. Scan this first, somehow, if it doesn't. Let it map out clusters: neighboring blocks are suspect anyway.
If you want to rescussitate Windows 98 (though who would?), create a boot CD or floppy containing 'scandisk', from
http://www.bootdisk.com/
and let it map clusters bad and try and recover these: it will read them a few times, then write the more common content to a cluster at the end of the disk. Now boot from the hard disk & note which files are corrupt. The site above may have these. If need be, you can browse very carefully amongst the freeware on
http://www.simtel.net/labels/simtel.net/...teID]simtel.net
Should you be interested in learning or bettering your programming, Linux is popular here
http://www.debian.org/ good Linux (swapping)
http://www.freebsd.org/ good performance (demand paging)
http://www.openbsd.org/ good security (encrypted virtual memory)
http://www.netbsd.org/ good portability (unique paging).
Check the Wikipedia for Comparisons of Operating Systems, Free Operating Systems, Open Operating Systems, &c. Most of these, I believe, run Linux applications.
Gneiss1
PS. Oh, if your disk is a 21st Century ATA, you can teach it to thoroughly confuse itself (erase partitions, data tucked away in nooks & crannies of partitions & other unexpected places) using a DOS program, though I don't know why you would want this.
http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/HDDEraseReadMe.txt
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. October 2007 @ 09:23 |
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Originally posted by 449:
I tried plugging the hdd into my working computer but all that did was ovveride the main hdd and told me that the hdd I had plugged in was bad. Help?
Did you jumper it as a slave, before you put it in your working computer?
In short, a drive that small may not be worth keeping.
Life is good!
GrandpaBruce - Vietnam Vet - 1970 - 1971
Computer: Intel Core i7-920 Nehalim;Asus P6T Deluxe V2
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AXT
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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28. October 2007 @ 16:49 |
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You can also download Ubuntu ISO burn it to a disk and boot off the CD. That will allow you to partition and format the harddrive.
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