Looking for a utility to delete partitions

[357mag]

I have something called WipeDrive which I've been using for quite awhile now when I need to reformat my disk and reinstall Windows. It works good but the downside is it works very slowly. It overwrites the disk is what it does. And since my drive is 300 GB, it takes about 3.5 to 4 hours to complete.

I thought I could just use the Windows XP install disc to just delete the Windows partition and save myself a lot of time, but I found out that does not work. When I tried it, I got some kind of error message. So even though you can use the XP install disc to delete non-system partitions, you can't use it to delete a Windows partition.

So what I'm wondering is this. Is there a utility out there that I can buy or download and burn to disc that will delete partitions including a Windows partition? That would be much faster than overwriting it with WipeDrive. I don't have a floppy drive anymore so I can't use FDISK either.

Let me know if there is anything out there.

[EzyStvy]

I got some kind of error message.

Posting the error message is always a good idea.

The XP should allow you to delete the partitions...It always has for me.

[Rev_pizzaguy]

I've had very good success with GParted.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

Use the LiveCD option, boot to it. Lets you delete, wipe, format, shrink, expand, join, etc. Very intuitive.

[glc]

There's always the free version of Active Killdisk - it's a single pass zero fill. It's on the Ultimate Boot CD.

[357mag]

Yeah but is this Active Killdisk going to take 4 hours? When I use WipeDrive I only make one pass and it takes close to 4 hours. I'm looking for a way to delete the Windows partition cuz deleting a partition only takes a half a second as opposed to hours to overwrite.

I downloaded a BZ2 file for GParted but I think that's the wrong file.

[shadowpr]

I've had very good success with GParted.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

Use the LiveCD option, boot to it. Lets you delete, wipe, format, shrink, expand, join, etc. Very intuitive.

I second that.

I usually have a linux live cd that has that on it though.

[357mag]

I just remembered I have an older version of Powerquest's Partition Magic. But I think I would have to actually install that on my machine before I could use it. I don't think it runs live from the CD.

If I remember correctly you tell Partition Magic what you want it to do and then you reboot your computer and then it does it. I wonder if that would work to delete a Windows partition. I guess it should.