Hi

I tried to low-level format my WD10EARS with MHDD. Disc is connected via SATA but it has place with 8 pins tho. I tried to set jumper as primary or not use jumper at all. Still, mhdd does not recognise it. Bios does.

I tried to use wipe-out tool in windows. WD isn't primary disc but it throws out "write error occurred at offset xxx" errors all the time. Now I'm waiting it to finish. What can I do more?


Thanks in advance,
Mike

@Morfi717:

Why? Please explain that background info - this could be useful to help with understanding your whole situation.


See here, in the Platform Requirements section for MHDD:
http://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.02- ... al.en.html

Those IDE/SATA controller requirements means that for most standard SATA controllers, you need to change the BIOS disk controller setting to IDE/compatibility mode, before MHDD can recognise the attached disk(s). Not all BIOSes have that setting, to allow you to change it.


The disk may simply have failed. Obviously the data is not important to you (because you are trying to erase the data). So are you just hoping for a cheap repair, or a different result?

Thank you for your reply!

EDIT: Well, I got it to work, all I had to do was to use different SATA slot on motherboard. I will look into manual later to see why it was different.

I'm selling the HDD and I'd like to make it unable for buyer to recover ANY of my data easly.

I have options in following tree (if that is what you mean)
Storage configuration
-> SATA configuration -> [Disable]/[Compatible]/[Enchanced]
->-> Configure SATA as [IDE]/[RAID]/[AHCI]
-> HD Write protect [Disabled]/[Enabled]
-> IDE detect t/o [35s]

I have set up config to Enchanced and config as IDE.


I've read through this section in manual but honetly I don't know how to check most of those things if they are OK. I understand that all sata devices are auto-master? Since there are no pin connectors for optical drive for instance.



Cheers!

"IDE" is the correct setting. You might also try changing "Enhanced" to "Compatible". If you have a large number of SATA connections you may need to plug the drive to a low-numbered one (SATA0 or SATA1) for MHDD to see it

_________________
You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

You don't mention which "wipe-out" tool in Windows you tried to use already, but if all you want to do is erase the disk fully, then it will probably be easier for you to do this:

- put any changed BIOS settings back to their original value;
- boot Windows again;
- make sure the disk works as you expect;
- download WD LifeGuard for Windows from the WD website (there are other versions, like a bootable CD image, but for you I suggest the Windows version);
- and use that to erase (zero-fill) your disk drive (choose the correct drive when you run the program!).


If you really want to use MHDD for erasing the disk (I wouldn't use it for this purpose, as I explain above, as it is "overkill"), then I suggest trying SATA config = compatible; Configure SATA as IDE; HD Write Protect = Disabled. [I see that drc suggested the same thing, while I was typing this reply... ]


So why struggle with MHDD, if you do not need the specific features which only that tool has? Instead run a normal "user" tool like WD LifeGuard, and use its Erase feature.

Thank you both for the replies!

drc, I plugged from SATA5 to SATA4 slot and it began to work, in manual I didn't find any differences between them so I really have no idea why it started working after replug.

Vulcan, too bad I was so quick and began to erase disc using MHDD. Actually I didn't know that WD gave me tool already, previously I was using MHDD for other HDD's and it was fine so why change it? (that was my way of thinking).


Now you tell me that this is "overkill". "over" sounds like it do something negative as well, what is it?

Cheers!

MHDD can recognize at most 4 SATA ports, so that makes sense. I have seen on some boards it doesn't like to detect anything except on the lowest 2 SATA ports.

_________________
You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Alright, thanks!

Any updates about this 'overkill'?


Cheers

I was just meaning that MHDD "does more than you need" (i.e. more than just erasing a disk) - that is the general meaning of the English word "overkill".

In your situation, you could have avoided needing to change BIOS settings & SATA ports (good call by drc on that ) by using a normal Windows utility, since you didn't need features that were only available from MHDD. That is why I said for this specific task, in your specific config, MHDD seemed like overkill - but you've now found the correct BIOS settings & SATA ports, so the job is done anyway.

Thanks a lot for quick and pleasant support. I will look for alternatives in future.


Cheers