Any way to wipe this drive?

I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
drive?

wrote:
I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
drive?

Probably not, but you can try dban.

wrote:
I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
drive?


I found a manual.

http://www.docsdownloads.com/download/copywipe.pdf

Page 21 "Reverse Wiping Direction" sounds like a
possible solution.

There is also a "Pattern: Hardware" option which uses
the secure erase option built into modern IDE (not SCSI)
hard drives. But with bad sectors, I don't know how that
feature works. What will happen, if you try it, is you lose
communication with the drive, until the secure erase
runs to completion internally. If the secure erase
fails at the 52% mark, you might not get any other
opportunities to talk to the drive again. So
I'd reserve "Pattern: Hardware" for another day.

More information on the ATA/ATAPI built-in hardware
erase option can be found on this site.

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

Paul

On Jun 13, 4:26*pm, Paul wrote:
wrote:
I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
manufacturer. *But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
an error at 52%. *It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
then Copywipe freezes the system. *So it looks like Copywipe will only
be able to wipe half the drive. *Any way I can get past that error and
wipe the rest of it? *Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
drive?

I found a manual.

http://www.docsdownloads.com/download/copywipe.pdf

Page 21 "Reverse Wiping Direction" sounds like a
possible solution.

That will reverse directions on each pass, but if the first pass
always fails, then I won't ever wipe in the other direction.


There is also a "Pattern: Hardware" option which uses
the secure erase option built into modern IDE (not SCSI)
hard drives. But with bad sectors, I don't know how that
feature works. What will happen, if you try it, is you lose
communication with the drive, until the secure erase
runs to completion internally. If the secure erase
fails at the 52% mark, you might not get any other
opportunities to talk to the drive again. So
I'd reserve "Pattern: Hardware" for another day.

I tried it, and it said my hard drive does not support it.


More information on the ATA/ATAPI built-in hardware
erase option can be found on this site.

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

* * Paul

On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:59:35 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
then Copywipe freezes the system.

I get freezes over the years (and in my previous thread here) for
various reasons, and I've never understood all these freezes.

Shouldn't properly written software intercept bad return codes from
subroutines, including system subroutines, display an error message,
and keep going? Even if they can't complete the assigned task.

I've only written software for IBM mainframes, but if I didn't check
if I was dividing by zero before I divided, it was MY fault. If I
called a subroutine and didn't check for a bad return code as soon as
the subroutine ended, it was MY fault. If I wrote a subroutine that
could crash, it was MY fault. I prevented this by careful reviewing
of the code and by careful testing, including with bad data. And by
fixing it after the user found that I hadn't adequately tested it,
which was rare, but it was MY fault.

And nothing I could do would crash the OS because it had been tested
too, by IBM.

So how come there are so many crashes and freezes in the PC world?
People, including MS, eager to get their products on the market
without adequate testing?

So it looks like Copywipe will only
be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
drive?


If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

"mm" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:59:35 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
then Copywipe freezes the system.

I get freezes over the years (and in my previous thread here) for
various reasons, and I've never understood all these freezes.

All depends on the OP definition of "freezes".

I've seen HDD errors cause a system to become unresponsive while the system
tries to access a bad sector, and it can last for several minutes.

On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:59:35 -0700 (PDT), "
put finger to keyboard and composed:

I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
drive?

Why not use a disc editor (eg Norton's Diskedit) to copy the first 50%
of wiped sectors to the last half of the drive starting at the 53%
mark, or wherever the drive starts to become good?

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

wrote in message
...
I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
drive?


Hold the drive next to the magnet of a large stereo speaker for about 30
seconds. God could not reconstruct your data then.

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage wrote:
I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
drive?

You can use dd_rescuce under Linux. It will continue on errors
and it can be set to start at an offset. You can use it from
a knoppix CD for example (also allows you to only have the drive
to be wiped connected to the system to prevent accidents).

You may still have to skip over a lot of errors manually. In addition,
all the handling and postage fees and effort is probably not
worthwhile investing for a 120GB drive, unless it is a 10000rpm or
notebook drive.

Arno

lisa swallowz wrote:
wrote in message
...
I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe
encounters an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I
enter Y, but then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like
Copywipe will only be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can
get past that error and wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping
software that can handle a bad drive?


Hold the drive next to the magnet of a large stereo speaker for about 30 seconds.

Wont erase anything.

God could not reconstruct your data then.

Wouldnt need to, it will still be fine.