wiping HD for win xp reinstallation

1216 Views 9 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Kalim, Dec 20, 2006

giluser

Discussion Starter · Dec 19, 2006

Hello,
I'm looking for a program that I can make a bootable CD due to my a: drive not working properly for wiping out my HD for win xp reinstallation. Can anyone recommed a good one.
Thanks

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The manufacturer of your hardrive will probably have such a program on their website under support/diagnostic tools. Free to download. There is usually a choice of a floppy or CD version.

If it's a Western Digital drive, the software is called 'Lifeguard'.

It will write zeros to your drive (low level format) and put it back as near as you will be able to get to the state it was in when new.

But do not use if you have a factory copy of windows installed on your hardrive - it will clear everything, including all partitions that have been installed.

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crazijoe

· #3 · Dec 19, 2006

The WinXP install CD will let you delete and create new partitions during the install.

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petercj

· #4 · Dec 19, 2006

giluser

Take a look at this link:-

http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2005/harddrive_format.asp

The windows disc will do a high level format - the software I refer to does a low level format, i.e., it writes zeros to the drive - see the last paragraph on the article as linked.

It depends on how "clean" you want your drive.

If you want to take it as far as you can, then use the utility software on the website of your drive manufacturer - it's free and it will do the job.

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crazijoe

· #5 · Dec 19, 2006

I have a link in my sig for the various hard drive manufacturers utilities.
You can go into the device manager or the BIOS to identify the brand of the hard drive.

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Kalim

· #6 · Dec 20, 2006

Any high level format will keep the option of being able to repair and use software like undelete to recover data. However low level format as mentioned above, is referred to as zero filling your HDD- basically wiping it clean.

The best one I use regularly is KillDisk

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Chevy

· #7 · Dec 20, 2006

petercj said:
giluser

Take a look at this link:-

http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2005/harddrive_format.asp

The windows disc will do a high level format - the software I refer to does a low level format, i.e., it writes zeros to the drive - see the last paragraph on the article as linked.

It depends on how "clean" you want your drive.

If you want to take it as far as you can, then use the utility software on the website of your drive manufacturer - it's free and it will do the job.

This is a common misperception. The manufacturer's utilities do not perform a low-level format. They do a zero-fill, which does what is says - fills each sector with 0's.

A low level format peformed outside the manufacturing facility would destroy a hard drive.

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petercj

· #8 · Dec 20, 2006

A little 'picky' there chevy - more semantic than technical - perhaps I should have put low level format in inverted commas.

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq/ata_llfmt_what.html

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/M...oftware Downloads/All Downloads&downloadID=22

And Western Digital use it in their 'glossary of terms': under 'L' for Low Level Format.

http://www.wdc.com/en/library/gloss0803.pdf

Also, the manufacturer's software that I have uses the term low level format in the actual program.

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Chevy

· #9 · Dec 20, 2006

petercj said:
A little 'picky' there chevy - more semantic than technical - perhaps I should have put low level format in inverted commas.

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq/ata_llfmt_what.html

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/M...oftware Downloads/All Downloads&downloadID=22

And Western Digital use it in their 'glossary of terms': under 'L' for Low Level Format.

http://www.wdc.com/en/library/gloss0803.pdf

Also, the manufacturer's software that I have uses the term low level format in the actual program.

:grin: Just my old-school shining through ... Older MFM/RLL drives could be LL'd by the user (often is was necessary). However, newer drives can't (it would actual kill the drive). The term just got passed on to reflect a zero-fill.

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Kalim

· #10 · Dec 20, 2006 (Edited)

OP: As an addition to my previous post this would be the best bootable disc with all tools you'll ever need:

UBCD

You only need to wipe your HDD, just a simple format would do. When installing XP you can do that through the CD. Nothing fancy or too extreme needed here. It would not leave your old data on and you will be able to run it perfectly without seeing or noticing your old info, as long as you choose the option for a clean format. As each available marked sector is written over, the old information will be lost anyway... much like a zero fill. :smile:

EDIT

Note: this site has manufacturer HDD utilities: http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/low-level-format.html

Important drive information (servo, sector layout, and defect management, etc.) is stored in the low-level format at the factory. This information is designed to last the life of the drive and therefore it is not possible to low level the drive outside the factory. Although some drive manufactures and BIOS provided so-called "low level format utilities", they actually perform a write-read verify of the drive’s user data sectors, and do not actually perform a low-level format. In the event of a corrupted master boot record or boot block virus, use FDISK /MBR command to restore the master boot record. If you need to low level format your hard drive then check the drive manufacturer and download such an utility from its website. Every drive manufacturer provides just such a utility. Below is a list of hard drive manufacturers with a links to low level format utilities.

Note: If normal (high level) hard disk formatting is required, you can use DOS FDISK command to first erase and create partitions and then use FORMAT. It is also a good idea when you hard disk becomes inaccessible to see if it is just the system files that are corrupted. Most of the time, it is the case. SYS will do the job of replacing system files. Therefore, low level format is always of LAST RESORT when you encounter HDD problems.

See what it says about these formating options.

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