Need Hard Drive on XP Laptop Scrubbed Clean

[Mark M Morse]

Will XP allow a system's main hard drive (i.e., the internal drive
from which it boots) to be completely formatted by a third-party
utility while the operating system is running?

I need to send a laptop with XP Home SP2 to the manufacturer for
motherboard replacement under warranty.

They told me to back up my data because they will put the original
disk image on the hard drive before returning the laptop. (I
already perform daily backups.)

But, the hard drive contains sensitive data, so I want to perform a
"security format" on the hard drive before they get their hands on
it.

I found some "kill disk" utilities on the Internet, but I know that
writing them to a bootable CD won't work because the hard drive will
not be recognized.

(I have a USB floppy drive and a USB external hard drive at my
disposal.)

Can somebody point me in the right direction for accomplishing this
security task?

Thank you for your consideration.

~ Mark

 

[bxf]

Will XP allow a system's main hard drive (i.e., the internal drive
from which it boots) to be completely formatted by a third-party
utility while the operating system is running?

I need to send a laptop with XP Home SP2 to the manufacturer for
motherboard replacement under warranty.

They told me to back up my data because they will put the original
disk image on the hard drive before returning the laptop. (I
already perform daily backups.)

But, the hard drive contains sensitive data, so I want to perform a
"security format" on the hard drive before they get their hands on
it.

I found some "kill disk" utilities on the Internet, but I know that
writing them to a bootable CD won't work because the hard drive will
not be recognized.

I don't understand this. Why?

 

[Zilbandy]

I found some "kill disk" utilities on the Internet, but I know that
writing them to a bootable CD won't work because the hard drive will
not be recognized.

I haven't used this, but it appears to do what you want. Google for
Darik's Boot and Nuke. It should boot from the cd drive and run from
there.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Will XP allow a system's main hard drive (i.e., the internal drive from
which it boots) to be completely formatted by a third-party utility
while the operating system is running?

No, of course not. To quote Charles Babbage, "I am not able to rightly
apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a
question."

I need to send a laptop with XP Home SP2 to the manufacturer for
motherboard replacement under warranty.

So, simply remove the hard disk and hang on to it until the laptop's
returned. The repair facility has no need for the hard drive in order
to replace the motherboard.

They told me to back up my data because they will put the original disk
image on the hard drive before returning the laptop. (I already perform
daily backups.)

But, the hard drive contains sensitive data, so I want to perform a
"security format" on the hard drive before they get their hands on it.

All the more reason *not* to send the hard drive in with the laptop.

I found some "kill disk" utilities on the Internet, but I know that
writing them to a bootable CD won't work because the hard drive will not
be recognized.

That sentence just doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't an OS booted from
the CD recognize the hard drive?

(I have a USB floppy drive and a USB external hard drive at my disposal.)

Can somebody point me in the right direction for accomplishing this
security task?

Either retain the hard drive, or completely wipe it using something
like WipeDrive
(http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive.php), which meets
U.S. DoD standards for securely cleaning surplus unclassified hard
drives. It can be run from a bootable MS-DOS floppy or a bootable CD.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Bill Sharpe]

Will XP allow a system's main hard drive (i.e., the internal drive from
which it boots) to be completely formatted by a third-party utility
while the operating system is running?

I need to send a laptop with XP Home SP2 to the manufacturer for
motherboard replacement under warranty.

They told me to back up my data because they will put the original disk
image on the hard drive before returning the laptop. (I already perform
daily backups.)

But, the hard drive contains sensitive data, so I want to perform a
"security format" on the hard drive before they get their hands on it.

I found some "kill disk" utilities on the Internet, but I know that
writing them to a bootable CD won't work because the hard drive will not
be recognized.

(I have a USB floppy drive and a USB external hard drive at my disposal.)

Can somebody point me in the right direction for accomplishing this
security task?

Thank you for your consideration.

~ Mark

I presume that the sensitive data is in discrete files. Why not back up
those files externally, then delete them on your hard disk, then wipe
the empty areas on your disk with a disk-cleaning utility? You should
then be able to reinstall the files when you get your unit back.

And Babbage was right!

Bill

 

[Mark M Morse]

Hi Zilbandy:

Thanks for your suggestion; I'll check it out!

~ Mark


----- Original Message -----
From: "Zilbandy" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 1:56 AM
Subject: Re: Need Hard Drive on XP Laptop Scrubbed Clean

 

[Mark M Morse]

----- Original Message -----
From: "bxf" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 1:34 AM
Subject: Re: Need Hard Drive on XP Laptop Scrubbed Clean

I don't understand this. Why?

< snip >

Hi Bill:

Thanks for responding.

I understand your bewilderment. When I lack knowledge to do
something, I'm
generally not sure what to initially post. (If I post questions
about what
to post instead, then I don't get far.) I like to wait for people
to ask
about x or y (like you did); then I can focus on that.

I would have to guess to answer your question. I'd rather say what
happens
because then you'll probably understand what I do not.

To create a bootable CD, my CD-burning software needs a bootable
floppy.
When XP creates my bootable floppy, it writes some version of
Command.COM.
After booting from the CD, there is access to drive letters a: and
b: --
this MS-DOS application responds with "Invalid drive specification"
if I try
switching to drive c: (maybe it's a driver issue or lack of
functionality in
DOS?).

I wouldn't know how to load a driver from DOS even if I had one.
All I have
is a "system restore" CD from the manufacturer, and the only thing
that it
does is boot the system and write an image to the hard drive
(restoring the
data to what they call an "out-of-the-box state").

Anyways, this is why I wrote, "the hard drive will not be
recognized".

Please feel free to tell me that I'm using the wrong approach!

~ Mark

 

[Mark M Morse]

Hello Bill:

Thanks for responding.

I regret that I was not clear in my original post. I do daily
backups to an external USB drive.

I would like to wipe the entire hard drive with a disk-cleaning
utility because I am not confident that removing file data is
sufficient; I do not have a clear understanding of what information
is stored in other areas (i.e., the registry, IE7 files, application
folders, et cetera). I need help figuring out how to wipe the
entire drive.

I'm looking into Zilbandy's suggestion as soon as I have time.
Maybe you can answer your question by reading my response to bxf's
first post in this thread.

I read your exclamation. I understand that you agree with Mr.
Babbage about something, but I'm not sure what it is.

~ Mark

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Will XP allow a system's main hard drive (i.e., the internal drive from
which it boots) to be completely formatted by a third-party utility while
the operating system is running?

No, it will not. You have to either use a bootable CD or remove the drive
and perform the task from another host.

I need to send a laptop with XP Home SP2 to the manufacturer for
motherboard replacement under warranty.

They told me to back up my data because they will put the original disk
image on the hard drive before returning the laptop. (I already perform
daily backups.)

But, the hard drive contains sensitive data, so I want to perform a
"security format" on the hard drive before they get their hands on it.

Take the disk out of the laptop and attach it to a USB drive adapter.
Attach this to another XP system, back up the system, and wipe the disk as
needed.

You generally only need a small Phillips screwdriver and perhaps needlenose
pliers for this. Some IDE drives use a small adapter on the header pins -
you have to remove this to attach the drive to the USB adapter.

I found some "kill disk" utilities on the Internet, but I know that
writing them to a bootable CD won't work because the hard drive will not
be recognized.

Why not? If you don't need to back up the data, you'll probably find
Linix-based bootable disks that read NTFS that will allow you to boot,
recognise the drive, remove the partition, and wipe it. It's pretty easy.

HTH
-pk

 

[Bill Sharpe]

Hello Bill:

I read your exclamation. I understand that you agree with Mr. Babbage
about something, but I'm not sure what it is.

~ Mark

Will XP allow a system's main hard drive (i.e., the internal drive

from which it boots) to be completely formatted by a third-party utility
while the operating system is running?

And Bruce Chambers answered:
No, of course not. To quote Charles Babbage, "I am not able to
rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such
a question."

And I said Babbage was right. Perhaps I should have said that I agree
with Babbage.

It's up to you to determine how sensitive data are removed from your
machine. It appears that others have offered a couple of methods to follow.

Bill

 

[Mark M Morse]

Hi Zilbandy:

I tried Darik's Boot and Nuke. My system booted from a CD burned
with Darik's .ISO file without any problems, but, once his
application started wiping the disk, it displayed that 65 hours
would be needed to finish all 180GB. Plus, the hard driver LED did
not come on at all, so I'm not even sure that Boot and Nuke was
writing any data to the drive.

I want to thank you for your suggestion anyway because the site
hosting Darik's project has links for other disk-wiping
applications, and I evaluated three others that finished the job for
me.

~ Mark

 

[Mark M Morse]

I presume that the sensitive data is in discrete files. Why not
back up those files externally, then delete them on your hard
disk, then wipe the empty areas on your disk with a disk-cleaning
utility? You should then be able to reinstall the files when you
get your unit back.

And Babbage was right!

I regret that my original post was not clear. When I wrote that I
perform daily backups, I mean that the files on this system's hard
drive are backed up to external drives every day.

The reason why I do not take the time to categorize 198,286 files
into two groups (those that can stay and those that can not), delete
the individual files that cannot stay, and wipe their file space
afterwards, and then restore them all later is because I do not have
the time (or desire) to do so.

I believe the best choice of options is to launch an application
that will wipe the entire drive, go to bed, ship the system to the
repair depot the next morning, and replace the repair depot's disk
image with my own when the system comes back.

About what exactly is Mr. Babbage right?

~ Mark

 

[Mark M Morse]

Hi Bill:

I don't understand it either. When I use XP to create a bootable
disk (floppy or CD-ROM from floppy image), the disk boots the system
to a version of DOS that shipped with Windows ME. The only drive
that the system recognizes in this DOS version is the drive from
which it booted. In other words, if I boot from a floppy, then the
CD drive and the hard drive are not available. If I boot from a
CD-ROM, then the floppy drive and the hard drive are not available.

Any attempt to change to a drive letter other than a: or b: leads to
an 'invalid drive' error; changing to drive b: leads to a 'drive not
ready' error. Drive a: is the only drive that Windows ME DOS can
work with.

Zilbandy gave me a suggestion that lead me to discover software that
boots to other platforms. I tried some Linux applications, and they
worked for me.

~ Mark