Hi
How do I *completely* kill all files when re-installing Window7 Pro (64bit)?
BACKGROUND
The problem I have is that my previous installation of Windows7 picked up some trojans/viruses and I want to make double sure that there is nothing left on my disk.
I have tried booting from the Windows7 DVD, but it only does a very unconvincing format that appears to take about 3 seconds.
Cheers
Ship
Download a free program like killdisk and format the HDD with this and it will return the drive to all zeros or all ones totally blanking anything on there although it will take a little while especially if its a big disk ie 1TB, once downloaded it will give you the option to create a boot disk, make it, boot from it, then blank the HDD and your ready to install
Hope this helps
Yes, I tried downloading an ISO file from killdisk.com, which I burnt to CD and then booted my Windows7PC from it. But I found it confusing. I did get it to delete some files (I think) but it didnt take more about 20 seconds... I was also slightly alarmed that it didnt talk about Windows7 anywhere but maybe that doesnt matter!
Roughly how long would you expect it to take to completely blank a 500GB disk?
Minutes? hours? days?
It depends on the settings you choose but normal full format maybe 1-2 hours but that is a guess theres lots of things that can affect it, system type/speed, HDD type, program settings etc
Who made your hard drive?
The drive utilities at the manufacturer's web site nearly always include a method to write zeros to the entire drive, as you might do before disposing of it. I used it recently on a Western Digital drive.
You don't need to burn a disc.
I am guessing these apps will work when you have a one drive system. It may be that you have to connect the drive to another working system, but I doubt it. I've always had an OS drive available.
Pauly is correct about required time.
Thanks - but no one has answered my question about can viruses get through a re-installation of Windows7?
You can find conflicting info on this on the web.
Most of the sources I looked at say "writing zeroes" gets all sectors including boot sector, MBR, etc.
Many sources even say deleting all partitions and a full format is enough.
But if you are in full paranoia mode, and many are, you should probably drill holes in the drive, beat it with a sledgehammer, and discard it. You can always find someone to tell you that you didn't do enough.
When you guys talk about "full format", what do you mean?
I tried running KillDisk but couldnt really understand it - I ran something that took suspiciously little time (about 20 seconds) on my 0.5TB disk. Probably not a "FULL format"??
Either way I ran out of time and reinstalled Window7. During the process I asked it to delete all the partitions, and I resized them. For some reason there is now a partition (100GB) that I cant even SEE - that Windows seemed to want to create for its own internal use. I am worried that because Windows7 came with the hard disk that it has been lazy and has NOT deleted everything on the disk - even though I can't actually see any of my previous files on the new installation. But remember I cant see that 100GB partition either!
My gut feel is that I have NOT done a full format, and that I could still be vulnerable to lurking viruses.
- Any further thoughts?
Use method two (command prompt at boot) in this tutorial:
Partition or Volume - Delete
Have look at those:
Tutorial quick reference list for Installing Windows 7
https://www.sevenforums.com/installat...-problems.html
Clean Install Windows 7
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