A Good Wipe....for the hard drive that is

[Idontknow]

Does any one know a really good and easy software that can wipe an entire hard drive (including the boot sector) clean? Boot from CD preferred. I really need to wipe my drive clean.

Thanks

[Platypus]

You can usually download drive utilities from the drive manufacturers website, one will be a zero-fill utility. This will return the drive to its "raw" state, reverting each bit in the user area to 0 value, giving a fresh start for a completely clean installation.

Alternatively, do you want to wipe a drive to a security standard, to ensure no existing data can later be recovered from the drive?

[Idontknow]

Thanks Platypus.

I would probably prefer the security standard. However, would the zero-fill utility be able to revert the boot sector. Previous Windows installation usually leave something behind in the boot sector and thus invoke the dual boot utlity. I want a clean start.

Thanks.

[Platypus]

The manufacturer's zero-fill utility will wipe the boot sector, so is effective for removing boot sector viruses, dynamic drive overlays and multi-boot installations (as well as the rest of the drive's contents... ).

Secure deletion will be a much longer process, as the drive will be re-written numerous times according to several possible systems, to eliminate the possibility of previous contents being recovered by forensic means. It's overkill for simply clearing the drive for a clean installation.

Eraser is a well regarded secure deletion utility.

[Idontknow]

Thanks.

I will download the zero fill utility from Western Digital.

Thanks Again