Linux - Software This forum is for Software issues.
Having a problem installing a new program? Want to know which application is best for the job? Post your question in this forum. |
Notices |
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
Are you new to LinuxQuestions.org? Visit the following links:
Site Howto |
Site FAQ |
Sitemap |
Register Now
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
|
 |
|
05-03-2006, 01:48 PM
|
#1
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: Mar 2006
Distribution: Fedora Core 4
Posts: 6
Rep:
|
Whats the best utility for wipping hard drive?
Well so it happens that i need to wipe my whole hard drive + MBR, so I was wondering if you more experienced guys can recommend me a tool or utility you use to perform such tasks. I run, maybe worth mentioning Fedora #4.
...
+MBR i wrote becuase thats where i see (maybe i see wrongly) my problem installing fresh win XP wich i need for one project. When i boot from cd-rom, win installation says "Setup is inspecting your configuration", and nothing happens afterwards, except black screen, and thats it. Either way i dont need to wipe my disk just for that, i just want to arrange my hard drive more efficiently then it is right now, so any help of any kind is most welcomed.
Thanks,
Joseph 
|
|
|
05-03-2006, 02:07 PM
|
#2
|
Member
Registered: Jan 2005
Location: Boston
Distribution: slackware
Posts: 502
Rep:
|
I usually do that kind of thing with one of the utilities on the ultimate boot cd
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
Cheers
|
|
|
05-03-2006, 04:04 PM
|
#3
|
Member
Registered: Dec 2005
Location: Montana
Distribution: Debian "squeeze"
Posts: 157
Rep:
|
That black screen has nothing to do with the MBR of the hard disk.
The problem is most likely with the XP CD you are using. Try a different one.
Or, verify the integrity of the hard disk with a utility from the drive manufacturers website.
Scott
|
|
|
05-03-2006, 05:35 PM
|
#4
|
LQ Veteran
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: Annapolis, MD
Distribution: Mint
Posts: 17,809
|
My favorite "wiper" is DBAN (Darik's boot and nuke) It is at sourceforge and also (I think) on the Ultimate Boot CD.
|
|
|
05-03-2006, 07:58 PM
|
#5
|
Senior Member
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 3,171
Rep: 
|
You really want to wipe your drive?
OK. Open a shell. su to root.
Then enter this line (assuming your drive is hda):
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=1024
This will write zeros to every byte of your HD.
|
|
|
05-04-2006, 12:34 AM
|
#6
|
LQ Veteran
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: Annapolis, MD
Distribution: Mint
Posts: 17,809
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by jiml8
You really want to wipe your drive?
OK. Open a shell. su to root.
Then enter this line (assuming your drive is hda):
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=1024
This will write zeros to every byte of your HD.
|
I don't think you can wipe a drive from which you are running. (But--I have never tried it)
Much easier to use a floppy or CD
|
|
|
05-04-2006, 12:43 AM
|
#7
|
Senior Member
Registered: Sep 2005
Location: West Virginia
Distribution: Gentoo
Posts: 1,249
Rep:
|
If you use jiml8's suggestion, my assumption would be that you've have to have the linux kernel running off of hdb. Or else the kernel would overwrite itself... that doesn't sound possible. Not without some nasty errors.
|
|
|
05-04-2006, 01:14 AM
|
#8
|
LQ Veteran
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Australia
Distribution: Lots ...
Posts: 21,414
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by tuesdays-child
...
+MBR i wrote becuase thats where i see (maybe i see wrongly) my problem installing fresh win XP wich i need for one project. When i boot from cd-rom, win installation says "Setup is inspecting your configuration", and nothing happens afterwards, except black screen, and thats it.
|
Why don't you show us an "fdisk -l" - probably something simple.
|
|
|
05-04-2006, 01:35 AM
|
#9
|
Member
Registered: Jan 2004
Location: /lost+found
Distribution: Slackware 14.2
Posts: 849
Rep:
|
I wipe/shred files on my box with bcwipe.
|
|
|
05-04-2006, 04:34 PM
|
#10
|
Senior Member
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 3,171
Rep: 
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by pixellany
I don't think you can wipe a drive from which you are running. (But--I have never tried it)
Much easier to use a floppy or CD
|
Oh, yes you can.
Depending on how busy the system isn't, you might even manage to complete the job BEFORE jobs start crashing.
Actually, I have even had corrupted systems that I have overwritten on the fly using a backup disk image (I backup and restore using dd). Usually before doing this I drop to runlevel 1, but I have done it from runlevel 5 by just stopping all user apps and any services that might try to do something while the overwrite is underway.
|
|
|
05-04-2006, 04:37 PM
|
#11
|
Senior Member
Registered: Sep 2003
Posts: 3,171
Rep: 
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Penguin of Wonder
If you use jiml8's suggestion, my assumption would be that you've have to have the linux kernel running off of hdb. Or else the kernel would overwrite itself... that doesn't sound possible. Not without some nasty errors.
|
The kernel is actually in memory. You can wipe the entire system without crashing it - IF you shut down any services and apps that might try to access the drive while you are doing this.
Actually, if you really want to be cool about it, you set up some ramdisks and move /tmp, /etc, /proc, and essentials from /lib and /bin into ram. Then, you can wipe and rebuild the whole system without rebooting.
Try THAT with Windows! LOL!
|
|
|
05-04-2006, 05:03 PM
|
#12
|
Senior Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Houston, TX
Distribution: Arch
Posts: 1,381
Rep:
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by tuesdays-child
When i boot from cd-rom, win installation says "Setup is inspecting your configuration", and nothing happens afterwards, except black screen, and thats it.
|
this has nothing to do with your mbr like ScottReed said. There is something else going on.
|
|
|
05-05-2006, 01:54 AM
|
#13
|
Member
Registered: Dec 2005
Distribution: suse/lfs/ubuntu
Posts: 46
Rep:
|
are you trying to install windows to a s-ata hard drive?
if you are, this could explain the problem (as far as i know, windows only supports ide hard drives)
|
|
|
05-07-2006, 05:06 PM
|
#14
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: Mar 2006
Distribution: Fedora Core 4
Posts: 6
Original Poster
Rep:
|
Thanks for all your help people. I still really dont quite know what was going on, but problem i had fixed itself somehow, actually maybe it had something to with fresh installation of Fedora Core 4 and setting grub as bootloader. After setting grub as my bootloader Win XP cd and installation went smoothly, so i doubt it was win xp cd glitch.
Joseph
Last edited by tuesdays-child; 05-07-2006 at 05:08 PM.
|
|
|
05-07-2006, 05:08 PM
|
#15
|
Senior Member
Registered: Sep 2005
Location: West Virginia
Distribution: Gentoo
Posts: 1,249
Rep:
|
Windows supports sata harddrives. My cousin has a sata in his. Though the drivers for them may not be on the install disk, but I doubt that as well.
|
|
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:07 AM.
|
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
|
Latest Threads
LQ News
|
|