How do you completely wipe Hard drive (NOT using "format c:" or "fdisk"?

My old Sony Vaio Pcg f350 randomly crashes and is genrally crash prone. I have checked the hard drive and it contains "bad clusters"! I have used "format c:" and "fdisk" but neither get rid of the bad clusters when reinstalling 98se! Please help me find a way to wipe the hard drive completly.

Thank You. Craig

bagpipes1000

Newbie Poster

1 post since May 2005

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7 Years Ago

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http://www.kostis.net/freeware/killmbre.htm

Also check the HD's manufacturer site for diagnostic or erase tools.

Michael

pcschrottie

Posting Whiz in Training

204 posts since Dec 2004

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7 Years Ago

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Im pritty dang certain you can't get RID of bad clusters(since there just that clusters that have gone bad, physicly bad)

You can mask bad clusters on your HDD, Your manafacturer may have tools for that.

or if you wish to fork out some dosh Spinrite from www.grc.com is spost to work well

I was also under the impresson that file systems avoided using them by masking them as bad (FAT apparently does (oviously not that well))

Paul.Esson

Junior Poster

181 posts since Feb 2005

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7 Years Ago

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DM has a function names Zero Fill, you can try it~

wuxiwilliam

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7 Years Ago

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Bad clusters are hardware errors, there's no cure.
Sometimes a lowlevel format can fix them but that requires special equipment with modern harddisks and is best left to the manufacturer.

jwenting

duckman

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8,392 posts since Nov 2004

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How do you completely wipe Hard drive (NOT using "format c:" or "fdisk"?

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