write zeros

[Bob Hansen]

Hello Group,
I've been trying to write zeros to my hard drive using Western Digitals
utility. I get stopped by a message that says the volume cant be erased
because that's where my operating system is. I've had no response from WD
tech. So, I'm looking for some third party utility that will write zeros.
I'm on home premium.
Any ideas will be appreciated.
Bob

 

[XS11E]

I've been trying to write zeros to my hard drive using Western
Digitals utility. I get stopped by a message that says the volume
cant be erased because that's where my operating system is. I've
had no response from WD tech. So, I'm looking for some third party
utility that will write zeros. I'm on home premium.
Any ideas will be appreciated.

You can't overwrite an OS from within itself, you need to boot into DOS
using the WD CD or a floppy drive.

 

[DL]

Well you cant erase your win, that'll be like cutting off the branch whilst
your stitting on it - oops
You can write zeros to free space
You can do all manor of things with your hd if you boot from an appropriate
floppy / cd

 

[Bob Hansen]

Thanks for your responses, I forgot to mention that I don't have a floppy
drive.

 

[JerryM]

Bob,
If you have a Windows CD you can boot with it and delete all partitions.
That will give you a clean drive to play with.

Jerry

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Thanks for your responses, I forgot to mention that I don't have a floppy
drive.

You can download a CD version from here..

http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=30

 

[Bob Hansen]

Thanks Mike, this looks like my best shot so far.

 

[Bill Yanaire]

Bob,
If you have a Windows CD you can boot with it and delete all partitions.
That will give you a clean drive to play with.

Jerry

He wants to do more than delete the partitions, he probably wants to make
sure that there is no personal data left on the drive.

 

[Bob Hansen]

So, now I have created 2 CDs with the WD Diag504 utility on each of them in
my 2 DVD drives. I've changed the boot order in setup so a CD rom drive is
set to boot first. But it still boots to Windows. Part of it is that I cant
match up what I see in setup with my drives. They are just listed as SATA 1,
SATA 2, etc. Not sure which is which.
Not sure what my next move will be. Appreciate all your input.

 

[Jane C]

Hello Bob,

How did you burn the CDs? You need to use the burn image to disc function
in your burning program (Nero, Roxio, etc), to get a bootable CD. The
inbuilt burning in Windows cannot burn .iso images to disc.

 

[Bob Hansen]

Thanks Jane, I'm trying that right now.

Hello Bob,

How did you burn the CDs? You need to use the burn image to disc function
in your burning program (Nero, Roxio, etc), to get a bootable CD. The
inbuilt burning in Windows cannot burn .iso images to disc.

 

[HeyBub]

Hello Group,
I've been trying to write zeros to my hard drive using Western
Digitals utility. I get stopped by a message that says the volume
cant be erased because that's where my operating system is. I've had
no response from WD tech. So, I'm looking for some third party
utility that will write zeros. I'm on home premium.
Any ideas will be appreciated.

You know, don't you, that writing zeros only removes (approximately) half of
your personal stuff.

 

[Bob Hansen]

Well, I did what Jane suggested, burn the Diag file image to disk. I cant
seem to get it to boot to the CD. I move the disk from one drive to the
other and I change the boot order but it always boots to desktop. Part of my
problem is that I cant tell in setup which drive is which. The reason I'm
doing this is that I spend a lot of time "not responding."
"

 

[~Alex~.:MVP Windows Shell/User:.]

If you are still looking to format your hard drive GParted is the easiest
utility to do this. It is a free tool. It is also a LiveCD. Download the
ISO and burn it.

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/G/Burning+ISO+Images+to+a+CD+or+DVD

Instructions there if you don't know how to burn a ISO file. Then just
restart with the CD in the tray.

 

[NoStop]

If you are still looking to format your hard drive GParted is the easiest
utility to do this. It is a free tool. It is also a LiveCD. Download
the ISO and burn it.

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/G/Burning+ISO+Images+to+a+CD+or+DVD

Instructions there if you don't know how to burn a ISO file. Then just
restart with the CD in the tray.

Linux to the rescue again.

Cheers.

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