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11-19-2006, 05:02 PM
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#1 |
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Member (6 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Hayes, Kent, UK
Posts: 41
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Clearing Old Hard Drives
I have three old hard drives (less than one year old) that I want to remove everything from so I can use them as slaves in my other machines.
There is nothing on them I want to save. What is the easiest and simplest way to do this? They are not installed in a machine. |
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11-19-2006, 06:24 PM
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#2 |
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Member (2 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 2
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Several options, depending on the resources you have, and how thorough you want to be.
Quick and dirty solution: Assuming they are IDE drives, and you have a spare IDE cable in one of your machines, then just mount the drives in the machine, reboot (you may have to reconfigure your BIOS to enable the secondary IDE drive), and just reformat the hard drive. Alternatively, there are dozens of HD utilities that will first overwrite random data over the existing data, then reformat the hard drive. Acronis True Image is popular; I have used it, and found it fairly easy and reliable. I have also used Disk Wizard for a really tough hard drive restoration; it was affordable, and I believe I just downloaded it, installed it, and used it (one time) within a 1 hour period. Another option is to install the drives into an external hard drive case, plug it into a USB port, and do either of the above. Cases can be as cheap as $20, or over $50, but are nice to have. Steve |
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11-19-2006, 08:53 PM
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#3 |
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EGO MY LEGO
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Tatooine, Binary Star System
Posts: 1,740
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killdisk
http://killdisk.com/ check each HD manufacturer for diagnostic and zero fill utilities just put the drives in your machine, or a machine, go to disk management in 2000 or XP and delete the partitions and create new ones.
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_______________________________________________________________________ Inspirion 8600/centrino 1.6ghz/1024mb ram/80gb hard drive hitachi/intel pro wireless 2200bg/15.4sxga/Ati 128mb Radeon Mobility 9600/xp pro w/sp2 dimension 4700/P4 2.8ghz 800mhz FSB/1.5 ddr2 ram PC 3200/2X160gb sata maxtor 8mb cache RAID 1/19 in dell flat panel/windows server 2003 Small Business Server standard edition SP1 w/Exchange SP2 |
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11-19-2006, 10:09 PM
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#4 |
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Shiro Usagi
Premium Member
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Kaneohe, Hawaii
Posts: 34,002
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11-27-2006, 05:51 PM
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#5 |
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Member (6 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Hayes, Kent, UK
Posts: 41
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Thanks to you all
Have now tried all three methods you have recommeded. Was worried with Crickets suggestion but found it was not to frightening once started.
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11-27-2006, 05:53 PM
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#6 |
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Tweak Monster
Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: indiana
Posts: 3,595
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Download and burn the "Ultimate Boot CD"
It has all the drive wiping and utlities you'll need....Very handy tool for the PC toolbox... 
__________________
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11-27-2006, 05:57 PM
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#7 |
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Member (6 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Hayes, Kent, UK
Posts: 41
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Thanks Max. I have a couple of spare drives that I will try out Ultimate Boot CD.
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11-27-2006, 05:57 PM
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#8 | |
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EGO MY LEGO
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Tatooine, Binary Star System
Posts: 1,740
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Quote:
i forgot about the UBCD!!!! great tool to have..... 
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11-28-2006, 06:56 AM
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#9 |
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Tweak Monster
Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: indiana
Posts: 3,595
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The UBCD has both Killdisk and DBan...and they are both good programs....
The Killdisk is faster because it only writes ONE pass of Zeros...(free version) While D-Ban writes 3 passes of Zeros per round...I have used both and they work great... I like the CD the best for it's Memtest products on it...they load so much faster than a floppy...
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11-28-2006, 09:01 AM
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#10 |
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EGO MY LEGO
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Tatooine, Binary Star System
Posts: 1,740
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yeah i had one and used it all the time and then i misplaced it or a coworker borrowed it and i never got it back, and i have been to lazy to make another one. i think ill have to do that today since i have time. thanks for the reminder maxrat.....
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Cricket
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