How To Wipe Your Hard Disk Completely?

[hateheals 0]

I need to comepletely erase the whole of my hard disk.It should be in such manner that I get the same options i got when i first plugged in my hard disc.Ive heard about a few softwares that can do the job but i dont know their names properly[]!!!!!!iS there any means to do that without softwares??What softwares are the best for such a job?

[jlhaslip 4]

Just a note to advise you that this is not a simply task. Well, the process of formatting the drive is simple enough, (in the MS-DOS control panel, format c: will do it) but you should take some precautions like saving your critical data, saving the zip and exe files for software you have installed, writing down or storing the access keys for softwares you have purchased, saving your drivers, and you will also need a copy of the Install disks for the Operating system.Google "re-install Operating system" before you actually re-format the Hard Drive to save yourself some grief.And you don't mention which Operating system you have, either, so this information may not be valid, depending on the machine you are running.

[hateheals 0]

the OS in microsoft windows XP with SP2,processor is s pentium 4 3.00 GHZ,motherboard and intel make model details i dont really know,RAM satnds at 512 MB ddr,adn hard disk is seagate ATA HDD 232GB....and BTW...will typing the format command in the windows repair console do?coz i dont really have and idea as to HOW to access the command prompt BEFORE windows boots....

[jlhaslip 4]

Have you stored all that stuff first? You may regret doing the wipe of the hard drive unless you store the info you might need. And Windows XP has the capability for doing a restore, so are you certain you need to wipe the HDD? What problems are you having? or What is the reason for wiping the HDD?

[hateheals 0]

erm.......certain files that are infecting mt pc and cannot be deleted..even by using the latest Avtivirus uptated to the date......the data is immaterial....i have it all on DVD....the restore points i have are all mostly after the day i found the two suckers in my PC......and i tried restoring once...system just refused to restore....wonder why...feel wiping HDD is best soultion....

[Will.Allison 0]

Just boot from xp disk and reformat the Hard Drive and then reninstall windows. If you don't know how to do this, put in the windows xp disk and then restart your computer. Look for the message that says "press any key to boot from cd" and then press a key. You will then be brought to the windows installer where you can reformat(wipe) your hard drive and then install windows again. But as jlhaslip said, back up any data you might still want.

[hateheals 0]

i DID that....to no avail.....the files that infect my system still stick to my C:.......any softwares that can do the job???

[Will.Allison 0]

If you really did reformat, there should be no files left on your computer. Are you sure you reformatted and completely reinstalled windows? (all your files would be gone)

[Tetraca 0]

When you format, you don't really remove the files you just mark them as deleted so if extra space is needed the disk is allowed to overwrite it. This is the same thing that happens with the Trash can. You can recover the files quite easily because of this, though it gets more complex if you reformat with a different filesystem (the data will still be there, and readable...with whatever hasn't been overwritten). To really delete files completely off the disk you need a program like Active@Killdisk that you run before an OS starts. It will wipe out all the data off the hard disk by passing and replacing all the data with zeros. The files will be pretty much unrecoverable.

Edited July 19, 2007 by Tetraca (see edit history)

[hateheals 0]

is that software free or do we need to pay for it....kindly provide me with the link that gives details about this software...adn does working itrequire any extra knowledge regarding file formats and all...if yes....kindly tell me what is it .....

[Tetraca 0]

The basic software is free, though it only allows you to use the one pass zeroes method. There are other methods, but it's good enough for personal use. The software runs before boot time on a CD or a Diskette, so it doesn't use an operating system nor a file format - it just clears the disk of all information. Then afterwards you can install a new operating system (this will erase Windows and everything else).Google it. The first result should be the Active@killdisk homepage. Remember to back up any files that you want to keep, like family photos.

[angad619 0]

I would suggest that you boot from your Windows CD, on the screen that asks for the drive on which XP is to be installed, delete all the present partitions.You'll be left with a HDD as it was when you bought it!!Then recreate all partitions. This should remove any trace of the virus.

[odomike 0]

Well, I am gonna try my best to give as detailed an exlanation as possible.

 

I suggest you print out this explanation before starting your HardDisc/partition wiping and reformatting.

 

First of all, you cannot use the command prompt to either forrmwt or delete your C:\ drive which hapens to be your rot partition (meaning you cannot wipe that particular partition because it is carrying your operating system. It is more like you are telling Windows XP to wipe itself which it will never attempt to do.)

 

Follow these steps if you wanna either reformat or completely delete your C:\ drive. I am gonna give you a 2nd option after these steps.

 

1: Restart your PC and goto your BIOS setup to ensure that yur computer is configured to boot from your CD drive.

2: Press F10 and Enter to save and restart your computer (keeping in mind to insert your Operating System installation CD before saving and restarting from your BIOS setup)

3: When prompted, press any key on your keyboard to boot from CD (this you have to manually do 'cos you still have a partition with a File System in your root partition. The computer will automatically start booting from the CD it does not detect any File system or boot sector in your Hard Disc.)

4: Wait for the computer to load the Setup files. After this, you are presented with a page that asks you if you wanna repair your operating system using the windows console or if you wanna continue installing your OS (Operating System). Press the R key on your keyboard start the repair console (This is a DOS command windows which enables you to do things like repairing your boot sector (if something went wrong with your OS boot, or formating your root drive and other important tasks)). Do not press any keys on your keyboard untill you are presented with the following C:\Windows. If you had passworded your OS, keep the password in mind as you will be requsted to type this in to authenticate the user. For a first time user, I recommend you type HELP for a comprehensive list of all the tasks in the Windiows repair console. But, let me go straight to the tasks relevant to you.

 

Type the following command after C:\.......format [/FS:File-System] [/V:Label] [/Q] [/A:Size] [/C] [/X]...replacing the required parameters with their apropriate infos.

 

You will be asked to confirm the pending task(s) by prssing Y for yes or N for No.

Press Y to start the formating process. Mind you that formatting will completely erase all the data you might have stored on your Local hard Disk Drive (C:\). You will see a confirmation to tell you that the formatting process have finished. type exit to restart you computer and start again from Number 3: above.

 

You can decide to do the whole thing without going into the DOS command window. You can do this by skiping to press R when imediately after setup files are loaded. press Enter instead. Your computer will imediately analyze your Hard disc(s) and present you with the Windows XP professional EULA (End User License Agreement). press the F8 and wait for your computer to detect already preinstalled Windows XP. Press the ESC key to skip the repair at this point (as you want to completely reformat your computer.)

Your are then presented with a list of all the partitions in your hard Disk starting from the Primary to the Logical ones (If you have more than one partition, but i am assuming you have only one partition in your PC).

To completely DELETE/WIPE the C:\ partition, highlight it and press the D key and subsequently the Enter key and the L key. Keep in mind that Everything in your hard Disc will be wiped off immediately after you press the L key including the stuffs disturbing your PC and this is not reversible. So, remember to make every aviable back-ups before doing this. Your hard Disc immediately returns to the state in which it was when you bought it newly (This means that there is no File System or partitions in the hard Disc at this time).

Press the C key and then Enter key to create another partition. Press the Enter key again to choose your preferred File System (NTFS or FAT32) I will recommend you use the NTFS as this is a much more stable File System than the FAT32 and it also enables Files and Folders compression which means you can compress your files and folders to save disc space. the formating starts and Windows will start copying the instalation files into your harddisc. Your system will restart after this process.

 

I believe you can continue the installation of your Operating system from this point as I have elaborately exlained the Hard Disc/partition deletion/wiping and reformating using the windows XP default installation repair utility n formatting process.

 

I hope this solves your computer problem dude.

Edited July 28, 2007 by odomike (see edit history)

[hibbso 0]

Same... But wouldnt it be easier to just go to control panel -> C: -> *right click* -> FORMAT. If i wana wipe my harddrive thats what i do. It keeps all your system files and targets program files and any other directory that never came with the installation.:XD:

[rayzoredge 2]

Same... But wouldnt it be easier to just go to control panel -> C: -> *right click* -> FORMAT.
If i wana wipe my harddrive thats what i do. It keeps all your system files and targets program files and any other directory that never came with the installation.

Wow... no.

I've done a ton of drive wipes. What you just said doesn't make any sense, because Windows won't allow you to delete files that are in use... which would be what you're doing if you even successfully do it that way. Then again, I've never tried that way because it doesn't make any sense for it to work. :XD:

If you have malware that's not going away with a drive reformat, I recommend that you Google for a program like XDelete (I forgot the name of it) or some sort of executable that basically writes 0's to each and every sector of the targeted drive.

When you "delete" things from your hard drive, the reason why they actually remain is because the OS simply replaces the first byte of that file with a 0 (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong), which effectively "turns it off." This is why you can "undelete" files and recover them IF the data cluster that it's currently on hasn't been overwritten yet. Software that completely wipes a drive clean will actually write to each data cluster a 0 (assuming what I said above was correct, but the concept is still the same), eliminating any chance of file or data recovery. Many programs can be thorough enough to do this up to seven times (which is what the military does to wipe their machines according to SOP). (I have no idea if that previous statement is *BLEEP*, because I don't deal with information with that high enough of a classification to justify such a wipe.)

Most of the time, you can get away with just doing a full reformat of the partition/drive by booting from the Windows CD. But if malware persists, utilize one of the programs that I've mentioned to completely kill the disk.