I cant format my hard drive that has strange partitions on it help!
If you have a hard drive of unknown origins there are times when you just can’t format it using the normal methods like an OS’s installer or Windows built in Disk Configuration Utility. NTFS’s good old security tries to do you dirty as well. It can be a real pain in the ass.
But AtA has been through this MANY MANY times and we know of an old school solution to blowing away almost any fussy hard drive.
‘Old School’ you say? How ‘Old School’?
Is Dos 6.22 old enough for you? Fdisk and format are your friends… You didn’t forget about them did you? 6.22 is before NTFS so it doesn’t worry about the security – isn’t that special?
Don’t worry loyal AtA fan we won’t make you go scurrying back to your domicile looking for your old dusty box of floppy disks because we have an image for you right over here…
You can use this with a blank floppy disk to boot into 6.22 and get down and dirty (You do know what a floppy disk is don’t you?).
How do you deal with formating issues? Hit us up in the comments.
_TheFlashBackAdmiN_
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about 2 years ago
You could also use knoppix or another Linux live CD that has fdisk. Knoppix also has a graphical partition manager and other disk tools.
about 2 years ago
Actually I’ve run into issues where an obscure Linux distro was installed on the HDD, and even DOS wouldn’t format it. In that case (or any case really) I turn to the thermonuclear weapon of HDD formatting: DBAN.
You can download DBAN (short for “Darik’s Boot And Nuke”) from http://www.dban.org/, and if at all possible, it WILL format that drive (well erase it anyway). DBAN is one of my most valuable tools, something I’m going to have to add the an Admin’s Arsenal post!
about 2 years ago
The link does not work. It is a GoDaddy site.
about 2 years ago
Sorry updated link coming up!
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
about 2 years ago
Good to see you are still lurking around Joe! I would love to see another “Admin’s Arsenal” post! :)
about 2 years ago
Yes I am still alive! Been kinda busy with work and some personal stuff, but it looks like most of that is starting to clear up, so I can start posting again.
about 2 years ago
while good old DOS 6.22 FDisk is perfectly capable of deleting non-DOS partitions, formatting new partitions on these monster hard drives of late will constitute a problem because of the partition size limit of FAT16.
a more accurate way of deleting partitions is indeed using the aforementioned DBAN or Active@Killdisk.
about 2 years ago
Thanks Molly sounds like a good lead into a DBAN article :). Nice to see you around as well. Just like Joe I have been getting killed during the day and have had little time. Hopefully it will calm down soon!