.bat files and Zero Filling

[Brassman101]

Never used a zero fill program (for anyone that doesnt know, it's a program that turns every bit on ur harddrive to 0) so i dont know how they work. But i've got some "hot" stuff on my PC, and i need a .bat file in a pinch, to wipe the drive.

A: How long does a 0-wipe take on a 80gb HD or does size not affect it?

B: Is there a program that runs in MSDOS, that will 0-fill?

C: Does anyone know how to make a boot disk that will fire up a .bat file right when it boots to the floppy?

If there's something i forgot, i will edit later.

Thanks In Advance,

Brassman

[doctorgonzo]

To zero-fill a drive, download the utility from the drive manufacturer's website.

I don't understand how the batch file fits in. In any case, naming the file autoexec.bat will cause it to be run on boot if you have a boot floppy.

[Brassman101]

the batch file fits in because i need to just pop a floppy in power on my pc, and then have everything wiped in a few seconds.

Anyone know the answers to my Q's?

Brassman

[doctorgonzo]

You can delete files in a batch file, but you probably won't be able to automatically run a zero-fill utility in that way, and in any case it zero-filling a drive takes more than a few seconds.

[Brassman101]

any idea how long it might take to 0fill a 80gb drive?

Isnt there a nice dos prog that will 0fill that i can run in dos mode?

[doctorgonzo]

One website says five minutes per GB of disk space, so for an 80 GB drive that would be more than six hours. That seems like an upper bound to me, but I would guess that depending on your computer, we are talking minutes and hours, not seconds.

As I said before, you need to download the zeo-fill utility from the disk manufacturer. There isn't one "generic" program because all drives are different.

[David_Jones]

Very bad idea to have a bootable floppy that automatically wipes your disk!

I would not thank you for leaving that lying around!!

At the very least you would want plenty of warnings, and non trivial keystrokes before it wiped a disk.

David.

[Brassman101]

no the whole point of the disk is FAST NO-INPUT wipe... i just wanna pop it in, boot, and bang goodbye Hard Drive. Warning and stuff would just defeat the purpose. I'm the only user on my PC @ home. I'll know where it is, i'll tape it under a desk or something like James Bond style. In anycase, i'm finding out that 5mins per GB is going to not work out... I'm going to try it once i get my larger drive so i can ghost my 80 first... Hopefully Processor Speed will have a better outcome than 5mins per/GB.

Brassman

[doctorgonzo]

You want conflicting things here. You want it to be fast, but you also want it to be a complete wipe. Those two things don't go together at all. You can either do something like a quick format, which leaves all the data on the drive but only makes it look empty, or you can zero-fill the drive, which can take a while. You have to choose one or the other, you can't have both.

When you zero-fill a drive, it is usually doing more than just overwriting the disk. It is also checking the disk for bad sectors. That takes time. Also, no matter what utility you use, you are going to get warnings. Making a bootable floppy that automatically wipes a drive without any input is the height of stupidity, and no utility will allow you to do that.

Why do you need the ability to instantly wipe a drive anyway?

[Statica]

Your post is quite baffling.

If I were doing a zero fill of my hard drive, I would try to emphasize on hard drive integrity, and use a search for a software accordingly. I would want to know that does it correctly and thoroughly, with adequate output, warnings, help etc; not something that is designed for time.
IMO I would suggest that you look for something along the same lines. A faster program is not necessarily the better way to go. You would have more peace of mind knowing that your 80GB hard drive is going to be fine after the necessary steps.

[Blue_matrix2k2]

no the whole point of the disk is FAST NO-INPUT wipe... i just wanna pop it in, boot, and bang goodbye Hard Drive

I'll know where it is, i'll tape it under a desk or something like James Bond style.

For some reasone it sounds like he has some files that are very Illegal and he wants a way of getting rid of them when the cops bust in or somthing. If thats the case which it realy sounds like it is, I think a moderator should delet this thread so if he is doing something illegal PC Mech and the PC-Media forums won't be changed with helping him.

[HAL9000]

Well... I'll let him know right now... the forensic lab here at the RCMP, zero filled or not, CAN recover the data. They get all kids of stuff from around the world for data recovery and do some pretty amazing things. The only way to truly eliminate the data would be to have the drive in a removable drive bay with a pot of melted steel beside you to toss it in.

[Brassman101]

I just emailed Western Digital to see if there is a single program that can be run in msdos mode, that zero fills. There is one in there lifeguard suite but it's slightly difficult to get to quickly.

Yes statica, i did search there site and found nothing single so i emailed them. Hopefully i'll get a reply with good news soon.

I dont have anything "very illegal " on my Harddrives, btw.

A quick format will leave the files there to be seen as long as i dont overwrite everything. That really wont help at all, since they are "technically" still there.

This is something i've just thought of: What about a quick format of the drive, followed by making the pagefile.sys, the entire 80gb of the drive.... since i'm overwriting everything with the increase of the pagefile, it "should" be overwritten right?

Brassman

[doctorgonzo]

If you format the drive, you won't have Windows left (or anything else), so there is no pagefile to increase.

Besides, increasing the pagefile size won't overwrite the data, anymore than deleting a file overwrites the data. Setting the pagefile size to 80 GB just allows the file to get that big. 80 GB of data would have to be written to the file for it to overwrite the data that was there before, and that's not going to happen.

You obviously have some reason why you want to be able to delete your files quickly on short notice. Since you aren't ponying up with an explanation yourself, we can only assume, and there aren't any legitimate reasons for needing to wipe all your data instantly. Regardless, I think you are barking up the wrong tree here. You can't do what you want to do in this way.

[Statica]

I'll lock down this thread for now.

Please note that we are not in the business of making accusations, and I would suggest that you, as members not have such pre-determined notions in your minds. When a person has come in for help, we just provide it, if we know the solution - if not we simply move on...

In this situation, we are rather vigilant about the thread because certain information is best kept away from wrong hands - and this may just be acquired by the casual surfer who learns how to destroy all the data on her/his friend's PC with a simple boot.

Brassman101, if you have any questions / concerns about this, please feel free to contact one of the moderators by PM/email.