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win 7 ultimate format

B

Barry$

Flightless Bird
Will be giving away my current computer, with win 7 ultimate...........
What's the easiest/fastest way to format the HD, without buying any
software?
Thanks
Barry Austex
 
A

Alias

Flightless Bird
Barry$ wrote:
> Will be giving away my current computer, with win 7 ultimate...........
> What's the easiest/fastest way to format the HD, without buying any
> software?
> Thanks
> Barry Austex

Go to the hard drive manufacturer's web site and download and burn the
utility to a CD and use that. Free. For Maxtor, it's called MaxBlaster
and for Seagate it's called Seagate Disc Wizard. If you want to
thoroughly wipe it, do a double pass that will take about four hours.

--
Alias
 
M

MJMIII

Flightless Bird
Can you be more specific? If you have the "7" disk, pop it in and reboot to
reformat and load a fresh install.

--


"Don't pick a fight with an old man.
If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."


"Barry$" <Barry@austin.rr.com> wrote in message
news:XKopn.55226$yk1.29699@newsfe20.iad...
> Will be giving away my current computer, with win 7 ultimate...........
> What's the easiest/fastest way to format the HD, without buying any
> software?
> Thanks
> Barry Austex
 
N

Nil

Flightless Bird
On 21 Mar 2010, "Barry$" <Barry@austin.rr.com> wrote in
alt.windows7.general:

> Will be giving away my current computer, with win 7
> ultimate........... What's the easiest/fastest way to format the
> HD, without buying any software?

Remove the disk and hook it up to another computer, then format it.

Download a diagnostic disk from the hard disk manufacturer - it will
probably include a format/partition utility.

Download one of those live linux CD/DVDs. Boot that up and format the
HD.

Boot up the Windows installation disk. Early on in the process you will
be given the opportunity to repartition and/or format the disk. Cancel
the installation after that step completes.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

Flightless Bird
On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:31:31 -0400, Nil
<rednoise@REMOVETHIScomcast.net> wrote:

> On 21 Mar 2010, "Barry$" <Barry@austin.rr.com> wrote in
> alt.windows7.general:
>
> > Will be giving away my current computer, with win 7
> > ultimate........... What's the easiest/fastest way to format the
> > HD, without buying any software?
>
> Remove the disk and hook it up to another computer, then format it.


Doable, but hardly the "easiest/fastest way" he's looking for.


> Download a diagnostic disk from the hard disk manufacturer - it will
> probably include a format/partition utility.
>
> Download one of those live linux CD/DVDs. Boot that up and format the
> HD.
>
> Boot up the Windows installation disk. Early on in the process you will
> be given the opportunity to repartition and/or format the disk. Cancel
> the installation after that step completes.


That last way, of course, is the easiest/fastest way for anyone who
has an installation disk.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
 
B

Boscoe

Flightless Bird
On 21/03/2010 12:59 PM, Barry$ wrote:
> Will be giving away my current computer, with win 7 ultimate...........
> What's the easiest/fastest way to format the HD, without buying any
> software?
> Thanks
> Barry Austex


Formatting simply isn’t good enough and data can still be retrieved but
Active Killdisk not only deletes everything on a drive, it then
overwrites with random characters, making recovery next to impossible


http://www.killdisk.com/
 
N

Nil

Flightless Bird
On 21 Mar 2010, "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain>
wrote in alt.windows7.general:

> On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:31:31 -0400, Nil
><rednoise@REMOVETHIScomcast.net> wrote:
>> Remove the disk and hook it up to another computer, then format
>> it.
>
> Doable, but hardly the "easiest/fastest way" he's looking for.

How do you know "hardly"? It would take me about 3 minutes. I have both
a live linux and a Western Digital diag disk within my reach. It would
probably take me 10 minutes to find my Windows install CD.

>> Boot up the Windows installation disk. Early on in the process
>> you will be given the opportunity to repartition and/or format
>> the disk. Cancel the installation after that step completes.
>
> That last way, of course, is the easiest/fastest way for anyone
> who has an installation disk.

What, are you rating the speed and ease of each method, and by what
universal criteria? I mentioned a few solutions, and I leave it up to
him to decide if they are easy or fast enough - only he knows for sure.

Did you have a suggestion of your own to make?
 
L

LD55ZRA

Flightless Bird
"Boscoe" <laughingboy47@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:94rpn.493343$Dy7.274282@newsfe26.ams2...

> Formatting simply isn’t good enough and data can still be retrieved but
> Active Killdisk not only deletes everything on a drive, it then overwrites
> with random characters, making recovery next to impossible
>
>
> http://www.killdisk.com/
>

I have to say that this is overkill in most cases! The fact that the OP is
giving away the machine is indicative that the other person is known to the
OP and so formatting the HD is all that is required because most people
haven't got the knowledge to recover anything from formatted HD.

hth
 
N

Nil

Flightless Bird
On 21 Mar 2010, "LD55ZRA" <LD55ZRA@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
in alt.windows7.general:

> I have to say that this is overkill in most cases! The fact that
> the OP is giving away the machine is indicative that the other
> person is known to the OP and so formatting the HD is all that is
> required because most people haven't got the knowledge to recover
> anything from formatted HD.

And if they, in turn, give it away to someone else? It is not difficult
to recover deleted files and partitions in many cases.

You might be right, but I don't think making assumptions is helpful in
a case like this.
 
L

LSMFT

Flightless Bird
Barry$ wrote:
> Will be giving away my current computer, with win 7 ultimate...........
> What's the easiest/fastest way to format the HD, without buying any
> software?
> Thanks
> Barry Austex

Just get a free or free trial disk management utility, burn it to cd,
boot it and remove all the partitions. That's it. Partition Wizard is
freeware as is Gparted. Gparted .iso makes a bootable cd with partition
utilities. If you want secure erase also get that. The average person
can recover data from a disk without partitions.
You can also create a new partition and fill it up with mp3's. That
will overwrite everything.

--
LSMFT

Drive slower than the posted speed.............................
And you too can become a fracking prick..............
 
C

Char Jackson

Flightless Bird
On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:52:51 -0000, "LD55ZRA"
<LD55ZRA@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>
>"Boscoe" <laughingboy47@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:94rpn.493343$Dy7.274282@newsfe26.ams2...
>
>> Formatting simply isn’t good enough and data can still be retrieved but
>> Active Killdisk not only deletes everything on a drive, it then overwrites
>> with random characters, making recovery next to impossible
>>
>>
>> http://www.killdisk.com/
>>
>
>I have to say that this is overkill in most cases! The fact that the OP is
>giving away the machine is indicative that the other person is known to the
>OP and so formatting the HD is all that is required because most people
>haven't got the knowledge to recover anything from formatted HD.

I've given away a few dozen PC's in the last 10-plus years, but never
to anyone I know. I agree with the folks who recommend wiping the
drive. Formatting or repartitioning aren't good enough, IMO. Data can
easily be recovered after those operations.
 
M

Mr doe

Flightless Bird
LSMFT wrote:
> Barry$ wrote:
>> Will be giving away my current computer, with win 7 ultimate...........
>> What's the easiest/fastest way to format the HD, without buying any
>> software?
>> Thanks
>> Barry Austex
>
> Just get a free or free trial disk management utility, burn it to cd,
> boot it and remove all the partitions. That's it. Partition Wizard is
> freeware as is Gparted. Gparted .iso makes a bootable cd with partition
> utilities. If you want secure erase also get that. The average person
> can recover data from a disk without partitions.
> You can also create a new partition and fill it up with mp3's. That will
> overwrite everything.
>
Format does not remove your data. It can still be accessed . I always
Delete the partitions.... Use Fdisk from a Win/me startup disk
 
M

Mr doe

Flightless Bird
Char Jackson wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:52:51 -0000, "LD55ZRA"
> <LD55ZRA@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> "Boscoe"<laughingboy47@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:94rpn.493343$Dy7.274282@newsfe26.ams2...
>>
>>> Formatting simply isn’t good enough and data can still be retrieved but
>>> Active Killdisk not only deletes everything on a drive, it then overwrites
>>> with random characters, making recovery next to impossible
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.killdisk.com/
>>>
>>
>> I have to say that this is overkill in most cases! The fact that the OP is
>> giving away the machine is indicative that the other person is known to the
>> OP and so formatting the HD is all that is required because most people
>> haven't got the knowledge to recover anything from formatted HD.
>
> I've given away a few dozen PC's in the last 10-plus years, but never
> to anyone I know. I agree with the folks who recommend wiping the
> drive. Formatting or repartitioning aren't good enough, IMO. Data can
> easily be recovered after those operations.
>
LOW level Format. Write Zeros to the Drive .
 
C

Char Jackson

Flightless Bird
On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:10:23 -0400, Mr doe <Mrdoe@blowfish.net> wrote:

>LSMFT wrote:
>> Barry$ wrote:
>>> Will be giving away my current computer, with win 7 ultimate...........
>>> What's the easiest/fastest way to format the HD, without buying any
>>> software?
>>> Thanks
>>> Barry Austex
>>
>> Just get a free or free trial disk management utility, burn it to cd,
>> boot it and remove all the partitions. That's it. Partition Wizard is
>> freeware as is Gparted. Gparted .iso makes a bootable cd with partition
>> utilities. If you want secure erase also get that. The average person
>> can recover data from a disk without partitions.
>> You can also create a new partition and fill it up with mp3's. That will
>> overwrite everything.
>>
>Format does not remove your data. It can still be accessed . I always
>Delete the partitions.... Use Fdisk from a Win/me startup disk

I hope you won't be surprised to know that deleting the partition
doesn't really make data recovery much more difficult than formatting.
Both procedures leave the data on the drive. I would use a Wipe
program.
 
R

Rodney Pont

Flightless Bird
On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:10:23 -0400, Mr doe wrote:

>Format does not remove your data. It can still be accessed . I always
>Delete the partitions.... Use Fdisk from a Win/me startup disk

Do a long format. That validates every sector by writing it and reading
it back but can take hours.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

Flightless Bird
On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:56:11 -0500, Char Jackson <none@none.invalid>
wrote:

> On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:52:51 -0000, "LD55ZRA"
> <LD55ZRA@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >"Boscoe" <laughingboy47@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:94rpn.493343$Dy7.274282@newsfe26.ams2...
> >
> >> Formatting simply isn’t good enough and data can still be retrieved but
> >> Active Killdisk not only deletes everything on a drive, it then overwrites
> >> with random characters, making recovery next to impossible
> >>
> >>
> >> http://www.killdisk.com/
> >>
> >
> >I have to say that this is overkill in most cases! The fact that the OP is
> >giving away the machine is indicative that the other person is known to the
> >OP and so formatting the HD is all that is required because most people
> >haven't got the knowledge to recover anything from formatted HD.
>
> I've given away a few dozen PC's in the last 10-plus years, but never
> to anyone I know. I agree with the folks who recommend wiping the
> drive. Formatting or repartitioning aren't good enough, IMO. Data can
> easily be recovered after those operations.



Several points:

1. Although it's easy to recover data after reformatting, not everyone
knows how.

2. Not everyone has any interest in what someone else had on their
drive, and many (probably most) people wouldn't bother to even look at
it. I, for example (who knows how and have gotten several used
computers and drives), have never bothered to even look at them,
whether or not they had been formatted or anything else.

3. Formatting followed by reinstalling Windows makes it much more
difficult (but not necessarily impossible) to recover data.

4. Depending on what was on the drive,not everyone cares whether
someone else sees it. For example, someone who uses his computer for
nothing but playing games probably doesn't care at all.

So what you should do depends on what's on the drive and how paranoid
you are about it.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

Flightless Bird
On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:12:06 -0400, Mr doe <Mrdoe@blowfish.net> wrote:

> Char Jackson wrote:

> > I've given away a few dozen PC's in the last 10-plus years, but never
> > to anyone I know. I agree with the folks who recommend wiping the
> > drive. Formatting or repartitioning aren't good enough, IMO. Data can
> > easily be recovered after those operations.
> >
> LOW level Format. Write Zeros to the Drive .


Be aware that, although many people call writing zeroes to the drive
low-level formatting, that is *not* what it is. Low-level formatting
should never be done to a modern drive, and will destroy it.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
 
C

Chuck

Flightless Bird
The Mfr's drive specific utilities can usually be downloaded and used to do
what now passes for a "low level" format.
That aside, the "shadow copy" feature can cause problems with selectively
removing personal files and info from a drive if
a full "erase" and multi rewrite to crypto standards is not desired.

I'd likely use a CD copy of Linux and utilities to totally clean off the
drive and start over with a new windows install.
(Easily available on the web for the time to download, and the cost of a
CD/DVD.

Trial and limited use versions of more commonly known disk utilities are
also out there.


"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
news:cq5fq5d6ectnirqnkt5r7bcn3gtslogmhd@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:12:06 -0400, Mr doe <Mrdoe@blowfish.net> wrote:
>
>> Char Jackson wrote:
>
>> > I've given away a few dozen PC's in the last 10-plus years, but never
>> > to anyone I know. I agree with the folks who recommend wiping the
>> > drive. Formatting or repartitioning aren't good enough, IMO. Data can
>> > easily be recovered after those operations.
>> >
>> LOW level Format. Write Zeros to the Drive .
>
>
> Be aware that, although many people call writing zeroes to the drive
> low-level formatting, that is *not* what it is. Low-level formatting
> should never be done to a modern drive, and will destroy it.
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

Flightless Bird
On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:22:19 -0400, "Chuck" <cdknospam@cox.net> wrote:

> The Mfr's drive specific utilities can usually be downloaded and used to do
> what now passes for a "low level" format.


Yes, as I said, some people (and even some manufacturers) misuse the
term "low-level format" that way. But the problem is that if you
recommend to someone that he do a low-level format and if he comes
across and uses a older *real* low-level format utility, he can
destroy his drive. For that reason, I think it's very important to
never use the term in a recommendation to anyone.



> That aside, the "shadow copy" feature can cause problems with selectively
> removing personal files and info from a drive if
> a full "erase" and multi rewrite to crypto standards is not desired.
>
> I'd likely use a CD copy of Linux and utilities to totally clean off the
> drive and start over with a new windows install.
> (Easily available on the web for the time to download, and the cost of a
> CD/DVD.
>
> Trial and limited use versions of more commonly known disk utilities are
> also out there.
>
>
> "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
> news:cq5fq5d6ectnirqnkt5r7bcn3gtslogmhd@4ax.com...
> > On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:12:06 -0400, Mr doe <Mrdoe@blowfish.net> wrote:
> >
> >> Char Jackson wrote:
> >
> >> > I've given away a few dozen PC's in the last 10-plus years, but never
> >> > to anyone I know. I agree with the folks who recommend wiping the
> >> > drive. Formatting or repartitioning aren't good enough, IMO. Data can
> >> > easily be recovered after those operations.
> >> >
> >> LOW level Format. Write Zeros to the Drive .
> >
> >
> > Be aware that, although many people call writing zeroes to the drive
> > low-level formatting, that is *not* what it is. Low-level formatting
> > should never be done to a modern drive, and will destroy it.
> >
> > --
> > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
> > Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
 
M

MJMIII

Flightless Bird
How does a true low-level format destroy the drive? I've done it twice
before....once recommended by Gateway (many years ago), and more recently by
Dell.

--


"Don't pick a fight with an old man.
If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."


"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
news:hsdfq55c12ju7navn9m501rakmbf4k8gb8@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:22:19 -0400, "Chuck" <cdknospam@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> The Mfr's drive specific utilities can usually be downloaded and used to
>> do
>> what now passes for a "low level" format.
>
>
> Yes, as I said, some people (and even some manufacturers) misuse the
> term "low-level format" that way. But the problem is that if you
> recommend to someone that he do a low-level format and if he comes
> across and uses a older *real* low-level format utility, he can
> destroy his drive. For that reason, I think it's very important to
> never use the term in a recommendation to anyone.
>
>
>
>> That aside, the "shadow copy" feature can cause problems with selectively
>> removing personal files and info from a drive if
>> a full "erase" and multi rewrite to crypto standards is not desired.
>>
>> I'd likely use a CD copy of Linux and utilities to totally clean off the
>> drive and start over with a new windows install.
>> (Easily available on the web for the time to download, and the cost of a
>> CD/DVD.
>>
>> Trial and limited use versions of more commonly known disk utilities are
>> also out there.
>>
>>
>> "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
>> news:cq5fq5d6ectnirqnkt5r7bcn3gtslogmhd@4ax.com...
>> > On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:12:06 -0400, Mr doe <Mrdoe@blowfish.net> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Char Jackson wrote:
>> >
>> >> > I've given away a few dozen PC's in the last 10-plus years, but
>> >> > never
>> >> > to anyone I know. I agree with the folks who recommend wiping the
>> >> > drive. Formatting or repartitioning aren't good enough, IMO. Data
>> >> > can
>> >> > easily be recovered after those operations.
>> >> >
>> >> LOW level Format. Write Zeros to the Drive .
>> >
>> >
>> > Be aware that, although many people call writing zeroes to the drive
>> > low-level formatting, that is *not* what it is. Low-level formatting
>> > should never be done to a modern drive, and will destroy it.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
>> > Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>>
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup
 
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