Hello,

Im planning to reinstall my computer and want to be the HDD as clean as possible, so ive read up about Zero fill wich would be the best way.

I have been writing this HDD for some time and well .. since i start over again, i rather have it as clean as possible.

What i would like to know:

What is the best program to zero fill my Samsung HD103UJ?
Is it safe to Zero Fill? (exept from power lost, are there other things to worrie about?)

Or do you guys say just do a low level format and that would be clean enough?

Its not like im disposing the HDD, just re-using it.

Thought id post here since here are the HDD pro's

Thanks!

dd if you know linux or dban

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Lemmy

Ofcourse np, but is it the best and safest way?

Usualy i do a Low Level format, but since im tending not to install or format again for a long time, i want to it right once

That depends on what you mean by "best"?

When used correctly, there are many tools which will zero-fill a drive, with exactly the same end result - ici_lemmy kindly mentioned 2 of the common software tools to you. If you are not confident using Linux (for dd) and don't want to create a boot CD (for DBAN) for the suggestions you have been given already, then tell us what the limitatons are about tools you can use, and you might get other suggestions from the members here.


ATA disks produced after the early IDE disks, have not been able to have a real low-level format performed on them by consumers (i.e. rewrite the AM & DM). That term "low-level format" (for consumer programs) usually mean a zero-fill these days anyway - for example, on their website FAQs, Seagate explain this.

I will use DBAN and im making a bootable usb flash, so that shouldnt be a problem.

The drive i juse is the Samsung HD103UJ, unlike WD Samsung doesnt seem to have theyr own tool to do so.

I just like more options to read and choose from, dont want to have a bricked HDD obviously.

I have used the WD DLG software, which includes zero-fill functionality, to do that on non-WD disks. There are also utilities which do a zero-fill, which are not from disk manufacturers (e.g. some Acronis software has this functionality). You don't have to use a tool from the disk manufacturer, for this task.


You can't "brick" a working HDD by doing a zero-fill on it. A zero-fill uses normal write commands. (Of course for a faulty HDD, all bets are off.)

Some other methods of disk erasure (e.g. the "secure erase") are a bit more unusual, and can be difficult to perform (depending on several factors including BIOS settings), and can also leave the disk unusable (until the process is repeated), if it is interrupted.

There are a few disadvantages of zero-fill if you were going to be selling the HDD, but since you are reusing it and not selling it, there is no need to spend time discussing those

Thanks i will zero fill my HDD with DBAN, i dont know about bricking thats why i asked.

There are no problems with the HDD at all, just want it so clean as possible.

Thanks for the good and fast replys, im on it

Good luck!

(And thanks to ici_lemmy for the good suggestion)