Improve Computer Speed: Drive

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Zero Fill a Hard Drive

The server was unable to process the request due to an internal error. For more information about the error, either turn on IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults (either from ServiceBehaviorAttribute or from the configuration behavior) on the server in order to send the exception information back to the client, or turn on tracing as per the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 SDK documentation and inspect the server trace logs.
The server was unable to process the request due to an internal error. For more information about the error, either turn on IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults (either from ServiceBehaviorAttribute or from the configuration behavior) on the server in order to send the exception information back to the client, or turn on tracing as per the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 SDK documentation and inspect the server trace logs.

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Zero filling a hard drive is a simple concept in which a program places a zero into every single part of the hard drives memory space. The reason this is done is for security. By zero filling your hard drive, all files will be completely erased and unrecoverable. This is very helpful if you are looking to give away, dispose of, or donate your old computer or hard drive.

One thing to keep in mind is that a zero fill utility will take hours to run. The time it takes to run will depend on the speed and size of your hard disk.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a format or quick format will NOT delete all vital files and information on your computer. There are software packages that are made to recover files from a recently formatted hard disk. To completely erase all information, you will need to zero fill the hard drive.

There are a few good utilities that will zero fill a hard drive for you. Unfortunately, there is no built-in Windows utility to do this. However, there are a few good third party utilities. The two we recommend are kill disk and dban and the links to these are below.

http://killdisk.com/

http://www.dban.org/

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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Changing Drive Letters and Directories in the DOS Command Prompt

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DOS has various useful features with which you can organize files under directories that you create. You can search your computer system for files on any drive or any directory with comparatively simple commands. You should be aware of the fact that when working on Microsoft MS-DOS operating system, all the hard drives and other media drives that are connected to your computer are assigned drive letters which can be helpful while running programs. If we consider the default items, MS-DOS will usually connect to the C: drive of your computer but you can change the drive letter with a simple command. Let us now consider a few instructions that are necessary if you are running computer with MS-DOS or are helpful if you like to use the command prompt in Windows 7, Vista, or XP. First, you need to boot up your computer and wait until you reach the MS-DOS command prompt window. In Windows, you can get to this my going to Start -> Run -> typing cmd.exe-> hitting OK. Moving forward towards the second step, after completing the first step, have a look at your cursor on the screen to see what drive the system is running at present. For example, if you see "C", then your computer is accessing the drive C. After this, replace "e" and type "dir e." in the command prompt window with the drive letter you want to change and then press "Enter". This command will then list all the files on the drives you select, but officially it will not change to the new drive. Coming towards another step, replace "e" and type "e." into the command prompt with the drive letter you want to change. Press the "Enter" key to change the drive letter that MS-DOS is accessing officially. After running the command, the letter that is next to your cursor will change into the selection you made. This is one the best ways to change the drive letter of MS-DOS. Let us now consider few steps to change drive letters or directories in the DOS command window. Well, writing commands into a DOS command window is not something hidden. Windows can help you get from one folder or directory to the next. Moreover, sometimes, it is easier to type a command in a DOS window to get the results. There are few steps that should be considered if you wish to know how to change between the directories in a DOS command window. Firstly, go to the run box and type cmd, a DOS command window will appear. Then proceed with going towards the C: drive. Remember, if you type cd... You will again come in C :\>. To go to the windows directory on your computer, simply type cd C:\ windows and if you want to open my pictures, type cd C:\ document and settings\ your username\my documents\my pictures.

There are few precautions that should be taken while typing letters. For example, be sure that you type it exactly with a space where there is required because even one single mistake can make you retype the words again or may take you to another window. A helpful tip is that you can press the up arrow to get the last command you just entered. In addition to all this, before windows XP came along, make sure to change the drive letter to get to the windows setup disc and then type in setup for installation procedure to start.

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Monday, October 4, 2010

How To Format a Hard Drive

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Before formatting your hard drive, it is important to backup your files to a CD/DVD or an external storage system. Formatting your hard drive will completely delete all files and settings. You may choose to format your hard drive to remove Trojans and viruses. Formatting your hard drive could help you resolve issues that ordinarily cannot be fixed or repaired easily. We do suggest that you try some of the other tips on this site such as removing spyware, removing viruses, cleaning up your registry, defragmenting your hard drive, etc before doing a total format since it is a bit of a hassle to do.

It is advisable to have two hard drives on your system, one for the operating system and the other for files and applications. This way you would be unable to change your operating system without erasing your files. If you do not have the luxury of two hard drives, you can partition the hard drive. Partitioning the hard drive is possible at the time of installing a new OS.

There are two ways to format a hard drive. One way is by inserting a Windows installation disc and boot off of it, following the instructions for formatting. Secondly, formatting the hard drive can be done via the computer management tool in windows. These will be discussed below.

To format a secondary hard drive, press "Start" -> "Administrative Tools" -> "computer management" or right click on "My Computer" and select "manage". This links you to the computer management window.

At the computer management screen, double-click "disk management" under the "storage" tab. Now you can begin by selecting the partition you want to delete. To delete all the partitions, you have to do it one at a time. Right-click the partition box and select the partition, press and confirm deletion. After you do this, the box will read unallocated.

To create a primary partition, right click the box and select "new partition"; a new partition wizard will appear. Select the size and drive letter. The wizard will take you on a systematic guide to creating this new partition.

It is highly recommended that you choose NTFS, which is better than FAT, for the formatting option. For a new drive, you can do a quick format if you want. Be sure to leave "Enable File and Compression" unchecked before clicking next because formatting begins when you click next. Make sure you do not close the Computer Management window. You can only use the new drive to store data after the formatting is complete and the status will change from formatting to healthy.

To format a hard drive and install a new Windows Operating system, first backup all of your important files to an external storage device. Next, insert the Windows Installation disc and restart the computer. When asked to press any key to continue, do so. Your files will be loaded; this might take some time so you have to wait a bit for it.

Follow the instructions to the point where you are asked to identify the location where you want the OS to be. Available partitions will show, and you can select a partition file to format the hard drive. First press the D key to delete the hard drive and L key to confirm deletion. The formatting begins. After the formatting is finished, you will see "un-partitioned space". Click on it and press the C Key to create a new partition. Select the volume for reinstalling the OS. At this point you will have to go through the Windows install process to install the clean operating system. Keep in mind that you will also have to install all software again as well.

The time needed to format the hard drive depends on the processor speed, hard drive speed, and disk space.

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Sunday, October 3, 2010

Completely Erase a Hard Drive

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Many of us know how to format a computer hard disk. You may wish to do this in order to perform a clean install of an operating system or completely erase all your files before giving your computer system away. However, formatting your hard drive alone does not necessarily erase all data. In fact, someone can always recover all or most of the data that was on the hard drive prior to the time you formatted it. They could do this the same way you would recover files that you mistakenly delete from the recycle bin. This article looks at some of the ways you can delete those files permanently before giving or throwing away your computer system.

The truth is, when you delete a file from the hard disk, only the address is deleted. In other words, the data of the file(s) is not deleted. So, formatting your disk removes the boot records but does not touch the data on the drive. Once the boot record is eliminated there is no way the operating system can identify and present the data on your computer. However, other third party applications can usually retrieve such data.

There are software programs that let you permanently delete data from your hard disk. All these software programs do is format the hard disk and fill each bit on the disk with zeros. Of course, you can manually do this yourself and save a few bucks. To do this yourself, you can check with your hard drive manufacturer for a utility to do this. It is important to note that some freeware or shareware that performs similar functions may not do a clean format. To find a tool, search google for "low level formatting" or "Zero fill utility" to find a good utility. We have tried and liked the utility from kill disk.

To elaborate, the best way to delete and format the hard disk of a pc is to format the disk and then zero fill the hard drive.

Most government agencies that are involved in collecting secret intelligence simply store their data in encrypted mode on their computer systems. Storing your data in encrypted mode right from day one prevents anybody from accessing any data. You can check out our article on encrypting data in windows for more info. We should point out that this is a medium to advanced difficulty task. Also, encrypting your data may slow down your computer a bit. Web site and all contents ? Copyright ComputerTooSlow.com 2008, All rights reserved.Fontana Computer Repair Knoxville Computer Repair Fort Lauderdale Computer Repair Worcester Computer Repair

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