active@killdisk

**jervic** · October 21st, 2004, 01:50 AM

hey man! just need some advice does this software good for formatting my disk? and does this software supports XP professional startup disk? i've download it already but i had doubt that it won't support an xp cd. my drive is seagate barracuda 7200rpm 80gb.

thanks!
__________________
techimo!!!!!!!!!!

**DoctorReno** · October 21st, 2004, 03:19 AM

Killdisk should do a zerofill format of your drive leaving it considered "RAW" to the OS. XP will consider the disk brand new out of the box, never been used and will guide you thru partitioning the drive and formatting it. I am quite certain you will have no problems if you killdisk the disk first. I do this regularly. IMO go for it!

**tcwh1971** · September 20th, 2012, 06:04 PM

Hi,
I have used Killdisk several times now but one thing is puzzling me. When it comes to the end it states the process has been successful etc and after pressing the Esc button to exit killdisk, you are eventually you are left with a blank screen with the following at the bottom left side.... 'A:\>'

I would like to know what am I suppose to do here? I tried typing 'EXIT' but nothing seems to work. There appears to be no official exit option that will allow you to shut down the PC safely. Instead I am forced to just simply pull the power cord the replug it and then proceed to follow the normal routine of booting from a CD to reinstall the OS. It just seems odd that Killdisk has no option to shut down PC safely.

Can any one help?

**Taxmancometh** · September 20th, 2012, 06:21 PM

Instead of pulling the power plug I would have held the power button down for 5 seconds. It may have shut down with just pressing the power button once. I use Darik's Boot And Nuke though.

**tcwh1971** · September 20th, 2012, 06:38 PM

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I have that too. What do you think of Darik's Boot And Nuke?

I'm aware of the holding the button down option but is this ideal for the PC?

I did a '3 pass option' using Killdisk and then used Recovermyfiles as a test to see what it would find afterwards. To my surprise it found around the same amount of files, even after I had used Killdisk on a 3 pass option. Surely that should not be the case? So i went back and chose the 35 pass option- Supposedly the best option for wiping any HD.

**stroyal** · September 20th, 2012, 09:32 PM

Welcome to TechIMO!

Pulling the plug, or shutting down with the button, can not harm your PC in any way.
The surge of turning it on is way more dangerous, and I never see anyone recommending not to do that.

Many people believe this, but it is simply a myth.

What it is based on is the fact, that if you have any open documents, and you pull the plug, or shut it off with the button, you will loose any info that is still open and not saved.

As for Kill disk not having a shut down command, it is no different than many programs that test, or format disks.
There is no operating system involved, it is running on the disk program alone, so what are you going to loose, or hurt.

It doesn't surprise me that 3 passes didn't wipe everything.
A hard drive isn't like a file cabinet with files in an exact folders/location.

I'm not a hard drive expert, but when you save a file, it goes to a general area on the disk.
When you wright 0's it doesn't write to every single square inch of the platter.
Only the current operating system install that wrote the files, knows the exact locations.

So, many passes need to be done, to cover all the data, depending on how sophisticated the recovery program is.

If you are worried about the FBI reading it, you better go 70 passes.
Just guessing though.

To my knowledge a sledge hammer is the only sure method.

Even then, I heard once, an electron microscope can still find data, but not sure about that one.

Edit
Oh, next time start your own post, you will get more replies.
If for some reason you want to reference an old post, just put a link in your new post.

**tcwh1971** · September 24th, 2012, 05:48 PM

Thanks for your reply.

I have now done 3 passes and then another 35 passes (known also as The Gutmann method). I then used Recover my files (again) and incredibly, it was able to retrieve the same files as before as if I hadn’t used Killdisk at all. What is that all about? This application clearly does not work since I was able to retrieve the same files. If it had worked, Recover my files, which I regard as a very low key application and not a professional one that businesses would use, should not have been able to find anything at all, is that correct?

Lol! I’m not worried about the FBI or whoever is applicable to the UK side of things, I’m just selling this PC and obviously I don’t want my personal info to be retrievable. But then who would bother going to the effort anyway.

If pulling the plug does not harm a PC then why have a standard shut down procedure in place and not just an on and off switch?

Most programs I have used, if not all have infact, have an exit option. But Killdisk uses the DOS environment so maybe it’s different for a reason. But even DOS has an Exit option.

**Taxmancometh** · September 24th, 2012, 05:53 PM

Try Darik's Boot And Nuke and see what happens.

**tcwh1971** · September 24th, 2012, 05:54 PM

I did try that but I had problems. could you offer me some guidance on using it? Is it bootable? like Killdisk?

**Taxmancometh** · September 24th, 2012, 06:39 PM

Yes, it's bootable. You simply burn to a CD and boot the CD. You shouldn't have any problems with it. I've always used it and never had any problems.

**stroyal** · September 25th, 2012, 09:35 AM

"If pulling the plug does not harm a PC then why have a standard shut down procedure in place and not just an on and off switch? "

For the reasons I already stated, program/operating system protection.

Your Operating system and programs always have to save something, even if you don't have a specific program, or document opened.

Your browser settings, if it was open.
Your desktop settings, among others, less obvious.

Nothing that is earth shaking, if you loose it, but it is just the way it works.
By all means, if it is easier to shut off the switch, and you don't mind loosing a few setting, or the occasional important document, each time you restart, use the button.

But your not going to hurt the computer!

I use Darik's Boot And Nuke, but never checked it.

If you want to experiment, just copying useless data to the drive, will eventually cover the old data.

Because of the way it stores data, even after 100 writes to the whole drive, there will be small parts left, from my understanding.

If you think of the drive as a series of switches that can be switched to 1 or 0.
(it is really a magnetic change)
If you completely fill the whole drive with data, all the switches won't be switched, or even used.

The next time the same thing happens, although it will use a completely different set of randomly chosen switches, so some data is left in tack.

It dose sound like Killdisk didn't do anything though.