[abgorn]

This is the story behind it (on Vista):
Last week, me and my aunt decided to but Linux on her Laptop. So I went to her house and shrunk the size on her harddrive (C:\) by 50gb and I put a Ubuntu DVD in her computer and booted it. We installed it using the emty space (the memory I shrinked) and installed. After about 4 hours of trying to get the internet on it, we decided that it wouldn't of been worth it so we restarted and booted into Vista. We went into "Disk Managment" (were we shunk the memory) and deleted the partition. When we restarted, I'd forgotten that when we installed Linux, that it changed the bootloader to GRUB. We put in the OS disk that came with the laptop and installed, but, it wouldn't wipe the harddrive, but install it on one partition.

So I was wondering if anyone knows how to wipe the harddirve so we can put Vista on the whole harddrive and not a partition that has 50gb less?

This post has been edited by abgorn: 03 September 2008 - 10:44 AM

[Nykc]

There are a few ways you can go about.

First I would try to use the system restore disk / operating system disk if you have one. System restore disk will restore your computer back to a factory state.

If this method does not work boot into command and do a format c:
you probably will have to set yourself to the d:/ drive or whatever.

Some newer computers have a d:/ with a restore file stored inside of it.

Are you reverting back to vista? or going with Linux. I run a dual boot now and considering moving to Linux full time.

[ccrasherdeb]

If your sure you want the entire drive wiped, go get the free program available from the HD maker of your hard drive and write 0's to the drive. This is THE only way to wipe a drive completely. A format only corrupts the index file and all of your old data is still on the drive just waiting to cause some unforseen problem. Anyone with a few years experience can go onto that drive and recover any files that have not been overwritten.

[MorphiusFaydal]

Of course, you only need write zeros if you are concerned about data security. All you need to do is get an MS-DOS boot floppy and you can use fdisk to destroy all the partitions on the drive, and then the recovery disk should create new partitions and rewrite the MBR.

[no2pencil]

ccrasherdeb, on 3 Sep, 2008 - 03:16 PM, said:

This is THE only way to wipe a drive completely.

dban (I believe) uses DOD standards for clearing & removing any data footprint. dban is far better than writing just zeros, as it does 3 passes. 1st clearing the data, then writing random values over it, & then clearing it again with another value.

While this is overkill for the initial question, I'm sure it would be superior to a free download offered by the drive manufacturer.

[ccrasherdeb]

The free program uses 6 or 7 passes which meet military requirements and can take up to several hours depending on the size of the HD, but I didnt want to go into to much detail because many of the people that I associate with do not fully understand this.

[Nykc]

Well just keep in mind that this community is not the people you usually associate with. Many here, including myself are programmers, IT, Developers, PMP's, Professors and Students that all share a common interest known as technology.

We all seek the same prize a better understanding through Information Technology and Computer Science.

[abgorn]

Thanks!

[Nykc]

I just removed Vista from my dual boot. Basically just install the Live CD and let do a complete install (Utilize entire hard drive) if you want to use Ubuntu Linux instead of Microsoft -- the whole process was entirely painless and took 20 minutes. I now have a fresh copy of Linux and 220GB of space to kill.

[no2pencil]

ccrasherdeb, on 6 Sep, 2008 - 05:49 PM, said:

...but I didnt want to go into to much detail...

That's understandable. Just don't with-hold information. Don't tell someone that there is only one way of something, especially when you know yourself there are options.

[carltech]

Quote

So I was wondering if anyone knows how to wipe the harddirve so we can put Vista on the whole harddrive and not a partition that has 50gb less?

Just install and then resize the partition afterwards.
I'm sure u could have resized it from a Linux live CD though, not to mention formated the drive.

This post has been edited by carltech: 12 September 2008 - 12:11 AM