I read a short comment online that said you must format AND create a partition after wiping a hard drive to use it again.

I am planning to use Active Kill Disk to wipe an old HDD I have.

I understand the need to format after wiping, but I do not understand the need to create a partition.

One on my PCs only has a single C partition on it.

Is there a hidden partition somewhere that is needed?

If so how large should this new partition be after wiping?

Can someone please explain this whole partition thing?

Thanks...

I've never done that. If I'm reusing one of my own drives I just do a quick format (selecting the file system) and start using it right away.

Oh that's great.

Thanks NK...

This is from the Active Kill Disk Users Guide. Maybe I am misunderstanding this instruction. Please see bullet #1:

4.6 Will I be able to use my Hard Disk Drive after Active@ KillDisk erase operation?
To be able to use HDD again you need to:
· Repartition the hard drive using a standard DOS utility like FDISK.
· Reformat partitions using a standard DOS utility like FORMAT.
· Reinstall the Operating System using a bootable CD-ROM.


This was the actual comment from a forum posting. Again, Maybe I misunderstood what he was talking about:

When it destroys the content of a hard disk, it also destroys the partition, so you need to create a partition before windows could see the empty disk. You can do that by right-clicking on "My Computer" and then choosing "Manage" then "Disk Management".

That's very possible but what you are doing is overkill if it's for your own personal use. The only time I do a DOD wipe is when the disk is either going to someone else or to the dump. If it's for me I do a quick format.

This came up when I was having trouble deleting a partition a while back. Someone on this forum suggested Active Kill Disk, because it cuts right through partitions. As you said, I just figured I could do a Quick Format afterward, and be on my way. Then I read these comments about having to create a partition for the PC to recognize the disk, and didn't understand that at all.

I can also imagine handing down an old PC to someone, and not knowing where my HDD might eventually end up.

So NK, what is the bottom line on this. You feel confident I can just Quick Format after a wipe, and the disk will work okay? I certainly hope so.

Thanks so much...

Skip the wipe. You only need to use partition software when the space is unallocated or when you want to change the size of the partition.

Now if you'll excuse I have to watch my beloved Canadiens win a hockey game. :)

Well good luck with that. I hear they Flyers are pretty fearsome.

And I'm going oot and aboot now.

Enjoy...