Is there a way to easily wipe out ALL data on a hard drive?

[nightlitezzz]

Is there a way to wipe out all data on a hard drive easily?

 

Basically I have my main computer (the one I am typing this on) and some broken Acer computer (which is not mine). It has a WD Green 1TB drive in it which doesn't work anymore. When you start the PC it just sits at "Loading Windows" and doesn't go past that, but the logo still has the light effects going on so that means it didn't freeze. I also have this other WD Black 250GB drive which my cousin gave me. He said it was "new" but it had Ubuntu on it which I didn't know so I installed Windows over it and it just fails at "Copying Files". I am 100% sure everything works except for the two hard drives.

 

TL;DR (not much shorter sorry :lol: ) : I have a hard drive that fails to load past "Starting Windows" and another one that refuses to have Windows installed over it (because Ubuntu was already installed and I didn't know) and freezes at "Copying Files" then an error message pops up. Does anyone know how I can erase all data on both of these drives and 'start fresh'?

 

[Samdb]

Format the drive.

[CoolBeans]

[Hans Christian | Teri]

Format the drive.

 

This, should be fairly obvious to be honest.

[piplupgao]

no

[nightlitezzz]

Format the drive.

You mean through the Windows CD? I forgot to mention this. I can't even get to the Windows Disk's installation screen. Any ideas?

 

I still need the drives.

[CoolBeans]

You mean through the Windows CD? I forgot to mention this. I can't even get to the Windows Disk's installation screen. Any ideas?

 

I still need the drives.

O, then that won't work.

[Vitalius]

You mean through the Windows CD? I forgot to mention this. I can't even get to the Windows Disk's installation screen. Any ideas?

 

I still need the drives.

It is very simple.

Shutdown the computer you are on now.

 

Attach the HDD's to your computer via SATA cables basically installing them (not while it is on). Do not forget the Molex/SATA power cables. Whichever applies there (Molex/SATA). 

When it is booting, hit Del or F8 until you get into the BIOS. Go to Boot and make sure your HDD (the only one that is in your computer now) is the primary boot device.

Once you have done that, reboot the system and let it load into Windows. Now both HDDs should be visible to your OS. Click the Start Menu and type in Partition. Click "Create and Format HDD Partitions" or something equivalent to that. 

Right click the HDD's that are the ones you want to format. Click "Format". 

Boo ya. Once they are done, just put them back into whatever you want and install whatever you want on them. Easy as pie.

[nightlitezzz]

It is very simple.

Shutdown the computer you are on now.

 

Attach the HDD's to your computer via SATA cables basically installing them (not while it is on). Do not forget the Molex/SATA power cables. Whichever applies there (Molex/SATA). 

When it is booting, hit Del or F8 until you get into the BIOS. Go to Boot and make sure your HDD (the only one that is in your computer now) is the primary boot device.

Once you have done that, reboot the system and let it load into Windows. Now both HDDs should be visible to your OS. Click the Start Menu and type in Partition. Click "Create and Format HDD Partitions" or something equivalent to that. 

Right click the HDD's that are the ones you want to format. Click "Format". 

Boo ya. Once they are done, just put them back into whatever you want and install whatever you want on them. Easy as pie.

Thanks I will do this when I have time and I will get back to you ASAP. 

[Godlygamer23]

Or you can simply go to Computer and right click on the drive that you wish you format.

[bchampion96]

This is some knowledge you could have obtained with a quicker and easier google. 

[nightlitezzz]

Or you can simply go to Computer and right click on the drive that you wish you format.

 

 

It is very simple.

Shutdown the computer you are on now.

 

Attach the HDD's to your computer via SATA cables basically installing them (not while it is on). Do not forget the Molex/SATA power cables. Whichever applies there (Molex/SATA). 

When it is booting, hit Del or F8 until you get into the BIOS. Go to Boot and make sure your HDD (the only one that is in your computer now) is the primary boot device.

Once you have done that, reboot the system and let it load into Windows. Now both HDDs should be visible to your OS. Click the Start Menu and type in Partition. Click "Create and Format HDD Partitions" or something equivalent to that. 

Right click the HDD's that are the ones you want to format. Click "Format". 

Boo ya. Once they are done, just put them back into whatever you want and install whatever you want on them. Easy as pie.

Any idea what allocation size to use?

 

EDIT: Never mind.

[Stephie_Girl]

Put it as a secondary drive and do one of the following:

My computer>right click HD 2 then click format seen here

Or go to control panel>admin tools>computer management>disk management then right click the drive and click format seen here

 

 

 

[nightlitezzz]

Put it as a secondary drive and do one of the following:

My computer>right click HD 2 then click format seen here

Format 1.png

Or go to control panel>admin tools>computer management>disk management then right click the drive and click format seen here

Format 2.png

I'm doing that right now. I'm doing a non quick format though just to be sure.

[nightlitezzz]

Okay so apparently the Green drive still sits at Loading Windows whereas I'm still formatting the Black (non quick mode)

[nightlitezzz]

Okay I finished formatting the Black and same thing, it sits at "Expanding Windows Files 0%". I'm sure everything is working including the disk. As for the Green it refuses to boot from my main drive. Every time it's plugged in with my main drive it will automatically boot from the Green drive even if I change the boot priority. Then if I disable it, it sits at "Loading Windows".

[stevv]

Okay I finished formatting the Black and same thing, it sits at "Expanding Windows Files 0%". I'm sure everything is working including the disk. As for the Green it refuses to boot from my main drive. Every time it's plugged in with my main drive it will automatically boot from the Green drive even if I change the boot priority. Then if I disable it, it sits at "Loading Windows".

 

Do a WD diag (same software for green or black)  on the drives if they are hanging. Are you installing windows on the "broken" acer computer? Confused where your installing windows .. which machine + drive?

 

 

If you can't boot into windows with green drive attached: (if you did a bios drive disable, you'll want to reset that first.. without the drive plugged in)

 

Boot into windows from your main computer and hot-plug the sata cable to the green drive.  Meaning only plug your main drive (power and sata) and for green drive: power cable only and boot.  After you get to desktop, plug the sata cable in to the green drive (careful with static).  If drive doesn't show automatically, go to device manager and scan for hardware changes.

[nightlitezzz]

Do a WD diag (same software for green or black)  on the drives if they are hanging. Are you installing windows on the "broken" acer computer? Confused where your installing windows .. which machine + drive?

 

 

If you can't boot into windows with green drive attached: (if you did a bios drive disable, you'll want to reset that first.. without the drive plugged in)

 

Boot into windows from your main computer and hot-plug the sata cable to the green drive.  Meaning only plug your main drive (power and sata) and for green drive: power cable only and boot.  After you get to desktop, plug the sata cable in to the green drive (careful with static).  If drive doesn't show automatically, go to device manager and scan for hardware changes.

Originally the Green was from the Acer computer. The Black was from my cousin. I think the Green is broken though since my brother rages sometimes and smacks his computer against the desk/steps on it. So that plus impacts would pretty much destroy any hard drive. But I'm still going to try and see if it still works. If that one doesn't work then I'll use the 250GB WD Black drive which my cousin gave me and put it in the Acer, which my parents will use as an HTPC. I will try the WD Diag thing right now.

[nightlitezzz]

So I ran the test. The Black passed but the Green failed. Something to do with allocation space or size thing. It's really slow for some reason and frequently stops responding (the program). Any ideas?

 

EDIT: It's called Re-Allocated Sector Count and that failed when viewing the SMART Disk Information within the test. Value: 133 and it's highlighted red.

[stevv]

So I ran the test. The Black passed but the Green failed. Something to do with allocation space or size thing. It's really slow for some reason and frequently stops responding (the program). Any ideas?

 

EDIT: It's called Re-Allocated Sector Count and that failed when viewing the SMART Disk Information within the test. Value: 133 and it's highlighted red.

 

Yeah, the green's pretty much a goner.  The "freeze" is due to wd drive attempting to recover/read the platter. 

 

If you curious...

 

You can attempt to "fix" by doing using the write zeros option from the wddiag.  This will attempt to locate and mark all the bad spots on platter (assuming it's just bad platter sectors).  There's also the option of running a software called spinrite... but that's gets super tedious and only worth it for people who need to recover data.  Given the boot issue you had earlier, it's most likely is hardware error on the drive (sometimes it may be the sata port if it's a really old system but I rule that out for your case).   The fact that your brother raged on the machine is also an ah ha moment lol.

 

Did the black drive get stuck at 0% during installation? If it did, wouldn't hurt to do a full diag and zero on it.  Might save yourself some trouble in the future.

[nightlitezzz]

Yeah, the green's pretty much a goner.  The "freeze" is due to wd drive attempting to recover/read the platter. 

 

If you curious...

 

You can attempt to "fix" by doing using the write zeros option from the wddiag.  This will attempt to locate and mark all the bad spots on platter (assuming it's just bad platter sectors).  There's also the option of running a software called spinrite... but that's gets super tedious and only worth it for people who need to recover data.  Given the boot issue you had earlier, it's most likely is hardware error on the drive (sometimes it may be the sata port if it's a really old system but I rule that out for your case).   The fact that your brother raged on the machine is also an ah ha moment lol.

 

Did the black drive get stuck at 0% during installation? If it did, wouldn't hurt to do a full diag and zero on it.  Might save yourself some trouble in the future.

Okay update:

 

The Black is successful. I have Windows installed on it so the Black is out of the equation. Thanks for the help guys.

 

On the other hand the Green is a fail and I don't think all that work will get it to work.