I don't see anywhere else to post this so I picked this one. If I want to wipe my current in use hard drive how can I do this? Can it be done from within windows or do I make a bootable CD/USB or does this only work on an external USB disk? Thanks.

What exactly do you want to accomplish?
What kind of HDD is it?

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

you will need to boot from a different drive. doesn't matter what, can be floppy, usb, cd, dvd, network, pxe, sd, Compact Flash in IDE adaptwer etc etc.

if you are in windows and using the drive, you cant wipe it.

Something like DBAN is what you want

Darik's Boot And Nuke - Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing
www.dban.org

Otherwise, if you are doing dodgy stuff and want to be able to nuke the disk on demand, say when the FBI start smashing in your door, I saw some security tool that actually destroyed the HDD on demand, and there are self deleting crypto keys such as http://thebridge.jp/en/2013/05/self-destructive-hddcase

I'm a new user and mean no hijack. This is on topic.

I had tried to use HDD LL from two differnet cds in the cd drive on
an hd with a bare windows on it-- no network or programming-- just the wastebasket.

I went to the cd drive opened that and the program started.

However when I requested low level format of the highlighted 160Gb HD

this long message stopped the operation:

Locking Device
Unable to lock device, Make sure you do not have open files on this device and try again.

[copied out by hand]

Please provide manual info or a step by step procedure to get the low level format going. The goal is to check the drive for a "Good" status in a prog. like Crystal Disk Info.


Step by step would be:

Download this (?) version.
Copy to cd/ Install it
Check for open files this way...

I did not have any open files and only the Security shield showed in the tray.

Check MHDD. Start with SMART status.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

It doesn't matter what you have open or installed. Windows always uses the disk too much to do that. There is a program called low level format tool
http://www.lowlevelformat.info/

might do what you want. better to have the disk as a secondary disk, or boot from something else altogether. If windows is installed on the drive you are trying to format, forget it

MHDD seems to be an ancient program. What am I looking for?
How would it affect the file lock error?

What will theSmart status reveal? I could also get into Smart from Speedfan.

Is MHDD in Hirens?

The disk I am using these things on is ready to be discarded but is still usefull to learn these programs which, after all, I would not want to keep on an HD.

What does the Locking File Device function do and why does it interrupt the program when run from the CD?

I looked at that Loe Level site. If writing zeroes is what it does,
BootNuke Copywipe or the HD diagnostics disk will do that.

A customer wants his hard disk wiped so nothing can ever be recovered from it again. I have used DBAN before but thought this might do a good job but in order to use HDDLLF Tool I would have to remove the hard drive from his computer and either slave it to mine or insert it into my external USB docking station and then do it. I guess DBAN is what I need to continue using. Thanks.

Yes, but still perhaps the king in free basic diagnostics.

It does not, that is what's good about it. Read the manual.

SMART will provide an idea of the drive's current basic condition status.

Should be.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

To review:

Wiping the drive is ok. That's immaterial.
Will HDD LLFF or another zero-writer attempt to refresh a problem drive-- sort of like it says in your advert?

What does HDD LLF do that other utilities do not?

I have run the Win XP long form chkdsk routine several times-- that which identifies bad sectors and routes around them (I guess.)

And I still have had no response on this 'file lock' business in HDDLLF. It addresses an open file when I have none.

1.) Which program version can be burned and run from the CD drive?

2.) How is that done so as to avoid the locking the disk error produced by an 'open file'?

3.) Have you considered making an ISO version for download?