zeroing a damaged hard drive

RipperRoo · 05-09-2003, 11:25 AM

i have a box full of 1 and 2 gig drives, all with some damage and rendering them unuseable, anyone know where i can get software that will zero the drive's ?

ive looked on the western digital web site but can only find diagnostic programs, no repair progs.

LPDad · 05-09-2003, 12:05 PM

LOL... I have a whole box full of small drives too.
(leftovers from cannabalizing old old computers)

The only damaged drives I have been able to restore were the seagates.

I, too, would be interested, especially for Maxtor and WD drives.
(I know that Rasta has been having lots of trouble with his Maxtor drives)

Barz · 05-09-2003, 12:40 PM

I'm pretty sure that there is an app on the WD Diagnostics disk that comes with most WD drives that has a "WRITE ZEROS" utility. If you go to the Western Digital site and download tools, it SHOULD have that zero track utility on it. You may have to search for it...

Data Lifeguard v10.0 Tools
95/98/2000/ME/XP
August, 2002
(1,185 KB)

You'll have to copy these to a floppy and boot off of it for it to work. When I get home tonight I'll look on the disk that I have to see exactly where to get to it from...

ANOTHER THING...
I just noticed they now have a "windows" version of the toolkit:

Win DLG
Ver. 1.0
April, 2003
(428 KB)

This rocks if you don't want to have to boot to the Diag disk...

rastagard · 05-09-2003, 01:22 PM

I usually just set a monster magnet on top of em............

J/K, Partition magic has a utility for doing that as well as Norton. Assuming of course the drive can run software. Otherwise see the first suggestion. Or this might work too.:hit

ajtip · 05-10-2003, 10:07 PM

Most hard drive manufacturers provide links on their sites to low level formatting utilities. They are drive specific though, so make sure you get the right one.

05-09-2003, 11:25 AM	#1 (permalink)
RipperRoo AdMiN oF RoCk! Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: uk Posts: 2,080	zeroing a damaged hard drive i have a box full of 1 and 2 gig drives, all with some damage and rendering them unuseable, anyone know where i can get software that will zero the drive's ? ive looked on the western digital web site but can only find diagnostic programs, no repair progs. __________________ PcTechtalk.com Admin A7V8X xp2600 Barton SLK 97U, GeForce FX 5700, 1GB 2700DDR Ram Sony DVD -R/+R/RW, SB Live 5.1 Digital, 1 x 30gb 3 x 200GB 2x120GB 1 x 250GB HDD'S, 19" TFT Epson R265 HP NX6125 Laptop 1gb memory http://www.minotaur-computers.co.uk/

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05-09-2003, 12:05 PM	#2 (permalink)
LPDad Admin & "Fixer" Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Costa Mesa, CA Posts: 2,293	LOL... I have a whole box full of small drives too. (leftovers from cannabalizing old old computers) The only damaged drives I have been able to restore were the seagates. I, too, would be interested, especially for Maxtor and WD drives. (I know that Rasta has been having lots of trouble with his Maxtor drives)

05-09-2003, 12:40 PM	#3 (permalink)
Barz sR. SmOOcHie iN pInK Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Central IL Posts: 102	I'm pretty sure that there is an app on the WD Diagnostics disk that comes with most WD drives that has a "WRITE ZEROS" utility. If you go to the Western Digital site and download tools, it SHOULD have that zero track utility on it. You may have to search for it... Data Lifeguard v10.0 Tools 95/98/2000/ME/XP August, 2002 (1,185 KB) You'll have to copy these to a floppy and boot off of it for it to work. When I get home tonight I'll look on the disk that I have to see exactly where to get to it from... ANOTHER THING... I just noticed they now have a "windows" version of the toolkit: Win DLG Ver. 1.0 April, 2003 (428 KB) This rocks if you don't want to have to boot to the Diag disk...

05-09-2003, 01:22 PM	#4 (permalink)
rastagard Humble Idiot Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Florida Posts: 2,271	I usually just set a monster magnet on top of em............ J/K, Partition magic has a utility for doing that as well as Norton. Assuming of course the drive can run software. Otherwise see the first suggestion. Or this might work too.:hit

05-10-2003, 10:07 PM	#5 (permalink)
ajtip Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Indiana Posts: 30	Most hard drive manufacturers provide links on their sites to low level formatting utilities. They are drive specific though, so make sure you get the right one.