Is there a quick way to just wipe clean a harddrive?

[RaNDoMMAI]

I have a 160gig hardrive that i just want to wipe totally clean and install a fresh OS on.

I have Dban running right now but it is taking forever, It has been 3 hours and it says only 3.88% done on pass one still.

Can i stop it and boot some other program that will do a quicker erase?

TIA
~RaNDoM

 

[DaveSimmons]

Either the disk utility from the hard drive manufacturer or Acronis Partition Expert would let you delete existing partitions, create new ones, and quick-format the partitions but this would not set every existing sector to 0, they'd keep their old patterns until actually used.

If you have files that "must " be unrecoverable, you're just going to have to wait.

 

[Mik3y]

boot up with your windows cd and when asking you to format and etc, it asks you if you want to clear hte partition. that takes a sec to do. then, ur all set.

 

[RaNDoMMAI]

am i allowed just to stop the dban process? this wont corrupt my harddrive or anything right?

~RaNDoM

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: RaNDoMMAI
am i allowed just to stop the dban process? this wont corrupt my harddrive or anything right?

~RaNDoM

Aren't you trying to format it? Why would it even matter if it "corrupted" it?

 

[ZZDMAN]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: RaNDoMMAI
am i allowed just to stop the dban process? this wont corrupt my harddrive or anything right?

~RaNDoM

Aren't you trying to format it? Why would it even matter if it "corrupted" it?

dunno what this dban app is but this guy ^^ has got a point. It doesn't matter if it messes up the data or not since the data isn't gonna be there for much longer. Boot from your windows xp cd, choose recovery console (it might be called repair console), type format C: (or whatever drive) and w8. Using the quick format is also an option but i prefer using this method.

 

[dwcal]

DBAN is a secure wipe utility. Are you going to use the drive yourself or are you giving/selling it to someone else who shouldn't see your files? If you're just using it yourself you can just go in with fdisk and delete all the partitions. You can also set dban to write zeros with just one pass. That's much faster than the default.

Don't worry about stopping DBAN. Once you repartition and reformat, you'll overwrite whatever random data that DBAN wrote to the disk.

 

[Zepper]

You can use the drive manufacturer's zero disk utility (just writes zeros to all data locations).
. Dban is a "secure erase" program kind of like Eraser. It overwrites the data with multiple patterns to make sure it's not recoverable without extreme effort. Anyone who gives a flip about his data security should know about and use Eraser and Dban or similar!
.bh.

 

[GoldFiles]

a program callled "lysol" will wipe your drive in about 10 seconds. It is put on a floppy disk and isn't self booting. You will need a windows bootup disk to run it.

 

[corkyg]

It all depends on what you mean by "wipe your drive." If you want to clear the drive so that normal use cannot read it - the quick and dirtyu solutions work. However, the drives can still be read in a lab because that kind of wiping only removes partitions and file allocation systems. The data is still there. To remove the data, every sector has to be overwritten with binary zeros, and that takes time. Even that is not foolproof. For higher desired levels of security, more passes are needed. It is all a matter of what kind of security you want. Security from law enforcement, etc., or from the guy next door.

 

[ToBeMe]

Partition Magic 8.2 also has secure erase, is a LOT faster than prior versions, and will allow you to do everything you need to your drives.............

 

[RaNDoMMAI]

Thx for all the replies guyz

I meant like hurt the drive in a way that i cant even use it anymore if i stopped dban.

I ended up stopping dban and just reinstalling the windows XP cd.
It reformatted everything and let me make new partitions.

thx
~RaNDoM

 

[OMG1Penguin]

BCWipe is also a good wiper for drives, it even has a DoD regulation setting on it, to make sure TERRORISTS don't get it!

Or you could just buy a degausser.

 

[moonsite]

Use the Debug command with win98 boot disk. It does it in just a few seconds.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: RaNDoMMAI
I have a 160gig hardrive that i just want to wipe totally clean and install a fresh OS on.

I have Dban running right now but it is taking forever, It has been 3 hours and it says only 3.88% done on pass one still.

Can i stop it and boot some other program that will do a quicker erase?

TIA
~RaNDoM

There is no reason to run DBAN on your HDD unless you are paranoid about someone retrieving your data in the event you are selling or rma'ing the drive. All you need to do is let windows/dos (quick) format your 160GB drive which takes less than 15 seconds.