deleted c partition, trying to reformat

[roly]

Hi. I need to reformat my HD, and erase all info so it can't be recovered because i sold it. It is partitioned as C: and D: I formated and deleted C: (and don't need any info on it) and now i can't do anything with D. I can't reformat or delete it, and i created a new C which has no OS. What do i do now? Thanks for any help on this.

[Jarhed7276]

What operating system are you using?

[PresterJohn]

deleting partitions & reformatting isn't a secure way to ensure that your old data is safely erased. you need a secure wipe utility which will overwrite every sector on the hard drive.

download killdisk and put it on a boot floppy. reboot and execute.

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

[Messiah89]

Remove all your partitions.
Now you should have one unformatted partition of only free space.

Create 2 partitions using that free space, your C: and D:
and then install the OS.

BTW, What OS are you trying to install?

-Messiah89

[roly]

Sorry. I'm running XP. I thought all i had to do was delete both partitions and then make another one, but after deleting C, it won't let me delete D. It says "can't delete partition because it still has a logical drive." And then when i check, it doesn't have a logical drive.

['G']

The best option for you is to zero fill the HDD as mentioned by Midknyte.

The links below will give you the HDD program to zero fill you HDD. Read their instructions.

IBM (Hitachi)
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

Seagate
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/utils.html

Maxtor
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/index.htm

Fujitsu
http://www.fel.fujitsu.com/home/drivers.asp?L=en&CID=1

Samsung
http://www.samsung.com/Products/Har...ities/index.htm
FAQ: Low level format

Western Digital
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

[Foggy]

Just as a point of interest you can download a bootable CD that has all of the major HDD makers utilities + a bunch of other utilities. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

['G']

Yeah Foggy, I am in the process of D/Ling the Ultimate Boot CD myself but it is 42MB I think.

It probably would be simpler and quicker for roly to D/L and boot using the manufacturers zero fill program for the time being.

[roly]

Thanks all. I got the original IBM HDD program and erased the hard drive. Should i still run another program if i don't want anybody to recover my old files (personal info etc.), like killdisk?

[Bill in SD, CA]

Depends on how paranoid you are.

Bill