How does one go about filling Harddrive with all Zeros??

[Hoeboy]

Trying to put a bigger HD into the XBOX and instructions said to format HD to fill it with zeros yet I can't get it to have all zeros.

 

[deftron]

Tape a fishing weight on your 0 key

 

[Geekbabe]

you need to go to the website of whoever manufactured your hard drive and d/load drive utility software
for your particular hard drive, the software will include an app that will allow you to write the drive to zero's.

 

[Hoeboy]

thanks a lot baffled.

 

[Spac3d]

I have a program that I got from IBM that writes 0's and 1's (or maybe all 0's) and it works on my Maxtor and WD drives. It is called Wipe.COM ... try a search on it, and if you still need it, I can email it. It is only 3k

Spac3d

 

[Harvey]

I think Norton Wipe Disk or Wipe File does that.

 

[Geekbabe]

Originally posted by: Harvey
I think Norton Wipe Disk or Wipe File does that.

It does but I usually prefer the disk utility provided by the HD maker for writing zero's,besides, those disk utilities usually include programs that'll let even a newbie partion and format quite simply and easily

 

[Bulk Beef]

Open notepad and put a book or something on the "0" key. I can't imagine why you would want to do such a thing.

 

[Vic]

Baffled is right. The utility from the manu is best. The only problem with all of them is that each one will not work with other manu's drives. IBM's is called DFT, WD's is dldiag, and Maxtor's is powerdiag (I've never owned a Seagate :Q ). IBM's and WD's utilities include their own version of DOS, so you just DL the utility and decompress to a floppy, then boot from the floppy. Maxtor's utility does not include DOS, so boot from a bootdisk or a Win98 CD and then run it from a floppy. Low-level formatting or "writing zeros to a drive" is very healthy for the drive and could extend its life. Of course, it does completely erase the drive, including any data, file systems, MBR's, or partitions...

 

[GoatHerderEd]

ya, its called lo level formatting. fun stuff. you can so a "secure erase" in NDD or whatever. its not the fastest prosedure though

 

[GoatHerderEd]

i forgot to subscribe. sorry. but heres some more info, do it over night.

 

[Danman]

Originally posted by: deftron
Tape a fishing weight on your 0 key

WERD.

 

[GoatHerderEd]

ok, wait. why do you want to upgrade your x-box's hdd?

 

[Rakkis]

You don't need to wait until yoru WHOLE drive is filled with 0's

You can do the paperweight thing on the 0 key for a minute or so. then save save the file, make a copy of it. and keep cating the copies with each other. EXPONENTIAL growth!

 

[TallBill]

wheres these instructions?

btw, runnin this utility now.. how many cylinders are typical?