How can I write 0's to my hard drive

[Pete Carr]

I would like to write 0's to the first parttion
on my SATA harddrive. I have three partions in all and
must keep the other two partions as is.
Format doesn't do it even if I use "full" etc.

It seems when I try and re-install XP it still picks
up certain registry enties and info that should be
gone after a "full" format. I want a "clean" new like
install of my XP with totally no remnence of the old
system install or files. It is a Western Digital SATA
120gb HD with a ABIT MAX3 MB with AMD64 CPU etc.

It would be easy if there were only one partition
but having three makes it a little harder for me
to figure out. With only one partion I could
just FDISK the whole thing back to FAT32 and run a DOS
program from a floppy that writes 0's to the whole hard
drive etc. ---- Any help would be appreciated.
Remember I have the new SATA type of drive which
require a different driver then the regular ATA type----
Thanks
Pete Carr

 

[Jim]

A true "format" never, ever leaves anything behind in your XP install, so
something else is going on here. When you install XP from a retail CD, the
only way something would be retained is if you did a Repair install. An OEM
XP install, on the other hand, typically restores a saved *image* of the OS,
so you can effectively start over (in that sense, you do retain things, at
least those things you started w/ when the PC was shipped). But if you do
an NEW install w/ a retail XP CD, it will completely reinstall XP from
scratch, w/ nothing left over. And of course, you can delete the old XP
partition, reallocate it, then XP will automatically format it (either as
FAT32 or NTFS, whichever option you choose), and the install (or reinstall)
proceeds. There's simply no way that these procedures will leave even the
slightest trace of your previous install, no how, no way. Again, something
else is going on here.

If you just want to write zero to a partition, I've found the easiest way is
to download BootIt NG ( http://www.bootitng.com ). Although I don't use
SATA myself, others have told me it will "see" SATA drives too. Unzip the
file, execute bootitng.exe, and create the floppy. Now boot the floppy, and
when the Welcome screen appears, hit Cancel (to abort the install), follow
the prompts, and eventually you'll be dropped into the main menu. From
there, proceed to the boot manager. You should see your HD (usually HD0)
and its partitions listed. Select the partition you wish to ZERO and hit
Delete. You will be given the option to "clear" (i.e., secure wipe) the
partition as part of that deletion, select Yes. When deletion and clearing
are completed, simply reallocate a new partition in that same freespace.
Whalla, you just cleared that partition. Now exit the boot manager (hit
Close), remove the floppy, reboot, and proceed once again w/ your XP
install. But understand, I'm just providing instructions here on one way to
clear the partition, I don't see how it explains the behavior you're seeing.

HTH

Jim

 

[dglock]

western digital has a program on the web site to do that
and many other things.
don

 

[Pete Carr]

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the info and the bootdisk program utility url.
I agree with what you say as how to format should
work. But whatever is going on it has exehibited
these charateristics when I have done a fresh
install before (full format option NTFS).
To be more acurate a fresh re-install.

In the past (I usually do a fresh install about two or
three times a year) I thought maybe XP was getting info
from another hard drive so I unplugged the other hard
drive (where I had my backups of certain XP folders such
as my documents etc. to put back after the new install)
but still it does it. I am on a home network (LinkSys
Router / DSL Modem etc.) but I wouldn't think that has
anything to do with it.

I have XP Home edition upgrade. Bought it at WalMart and
so I have to activate everytime I do a re-install
(full with full format etc.)

Thanks again. I will try and figure out what is
going on because I frankly don't want this worry
everytime a do a fresh re-install. Not trying to
get rid of any info that I'm afraid of just don't
want XP using "any" previous settings (besides of course
ones it would abviously put back as any XP setup would
have etc.)

Pete Carr

-----Original Message-----
A true "format" never, ever leaves anything behind in your XP install, so
something else is going on here. When you install XP from a retail CD, the
only way something would be retained is if you did a Repair install. An OEM
XP install, on the other hand, typically restores a saved *image* of the OS,
so you can effectively start over (in that sense, you do retain things, at
least those things you started w/ when the PC was shipped). But if you do
an NEW install w/ a retail XP CD, it will completely reinstall XP from
scratch, w/ nothing left over. And of course, you can delete the old XP
partition, reallocate it, then XP will automatically format it (either as
FAT32 or NTFS, whichever option you choose), and the install (or reinstall)
proceeds. There's simply no way that these procedures will leave even the
slightest trace of your previous install, no how, no way. Again, something
else is going on here.

If you just want to write zero to a partition, I've found the easiest way is
to download BootIt NG ( http://www.bootitng.com ). Although I don't use
SATA myself, others have told me it will "see" SATA drives too. Unzip the
file, execute bootitng.exe, and create the floppy. Now boot the floppy, and
when the Welcome screen appears, hit Cancel (to abort the install), follow
the prompts, and eventually you'll be dropped into the main menu. From
there, proceed to the boot manager. You should see your HD (usually HD0)
and its partitions listed. Select the partition you wish to ZERO and hit
Delete. You will be given the option to "clear" (i.e., secure wipe) the
partition as part of that deletion, select Yes. When deletion and clearing
are completed, simply reallocate a new partition in that same freespace.
Whalla, you just cleared that partition. Now exit the boot manager (hit
Close), remove the floppy, reboot, and proceed once again w/ your XP
install. But understand, I'm just providing

instructions here on one way to

 

[Pete Carr]

Thanks Don,
The WD SATA Drive came with a uility disk
that will allow you to do a few things
but the option to format the drive never
gave me the option to format just a certain partition.
Just the whole drive. I will look on the WD site.
Thanks
Pete Carr

 

[Jim Macklin]

You have to create the partitions before you get the option
to format.


message | Thanks Don,
| The WD SATA Drive came with a uility disk
| that will allow you to do a few things
| but the option to format the drive never
| gave me the option to format just a certain partition.
| Just the whole drive. I will look on the WD site.
| Thanks
| Pete Carr
|
| >-----Original Message-----
| >western digital has a program on the web site to do that
| >and many other things.
| >don
| >
| >>-----Original Message-----
| >>I would like to write 0's to the first parttion
| >>on my SATA harddrive. I have three partions in all and
| >>must keep the other two partions as is.
| >>Format doesn't do it even if I use "full" etc.
| >>
| >>It seems when I try and re-install XP it still picks
| >>up certain registry enties and info that should be
| >>gone after a "full" format. I want a "clean" new like
| >>install of my XP with totally no remnence of the old
| >>system install or files. It is a Western Digital SATA
| >>120gb HD with a ABIT MAX3 MB with AMD64 CPU etc.
| >>
| >>It would be easy if there were only one partition
| >>but having three makes it a little harder for me
| >>to figure out. With only one partion I could
| >>just FDISK the whole thing back to FAT32 and run a DOS
| >>program from a floppy that writes 0's to the whole hard
| >>drive etc. ---- Any help would be appreciated.
| >>Remember I have the new SATA type of drive which
| >>require a different driver then the regular ATA type----
| >>Thanks
| >>Pete Carr
| >>
| >>
| >>.
| >>
| >.
| >