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mitchsc · Dec 16, 2009, 06:35 AM

Does anyone know if Active Kill Disk will erase an external drive through a USB port?

Or a secondary drive inside a PC?

In reading about it, it almost sounds as though it only erases the main drive in a computer. (This I do not want)

Does it display all drives (internal and external) and allow you to choose which one you want to erase?

I can't seem to find an answer to this.

Thanks...

mitchsc · Dec 16, 2009, 09:35 AM

Does anyone know if Active Kill Disk will erase an external drive through a USB port?

Or a secondary drive inside a PC?

In reading about it, it almost sounds as though it only erases the main drive in a computer. (This I do not want)

Does it display all drives (internal and external) and allow you to choose which one you want to erase?

I can't seem to find an answer to this.

Thanks...

NeedKarma · Dec 16, 2009, 10:04 AM

From here: http://www.killdisk.com/downloads/KillDisk_Win5.pdf
It seems that if you can see the drive you can nuke it.

mitchsc · Dec 16, 2009, 10:24 AM

Thanks NK,

Found this on page 8: "Supports fixed disks, floppies, zip drives, USB devices".

Would you take this to mean that you could erase an external (USB) drive without affecting the main internal drive?

NeedKarma · Dec 16, 2009, 10:40 AM

If you can see it you can erase it. That's how most wipe programs work. You just can't erase the disk that the wipe program resides on, obviously. :)

mitchsc · Dec 16, 2009, 10:54 AM

I'll take that as a yes.

Another "beginners" question: On page 17 is talks about erasing the MBR on large drives. If I wanted to erase an external USB backup drive to just save files, or an internal drive that I want to then clone from the main drive (0), do I need an MBR, or can the entire drive be erased? (This MBR stuff is all new to me).

Quote from manual: NOTE Because of the BIOS restrictions of some manufacturers, a hard disk device that is larger than 300 MB must have an MBR (Master Boot Record) in sector zero. If you erase sector zero and fill it with zeros or random
characters, you might find that you cannot use the hard drive after erasing the data. It is for this reason that—on hard drives larger than 300 MB—KillDisk creates an empty partition table and writes a typical MBR in sector zero.

Thanks again...

NeedKarma · Dec 16, 2009, 10:59 AM

Another "beginners" question: On page 17 is talks about erasing the MBR on large drives. If I wanted to erase an external USB backup drive to just save files, or an internal drive that I want to then clone from the main drive (0), do I need an MBR, or can the entire drive be erased? (This MBR stuff is all new to me).
If you completely wipe a drive it'll take the Master Boot Record with it (this is good), simply reformat the drive for the file system you want to use (NTFS, FAT32, etc.)

Quote from manual: NOTE Because of the BIOS restrictions of some manufacturers, a hard disk device that is larger than 300 MB must have an MBR (Master Boot Record) in sector zero. If you erase sector zero and fill it with zeros or random
characters, you might find that you cannot use the hard drive after erasing the data. It is for this reason that—on hard drives larger than 300 MB—KillDisk creates an empty partition table and writes a typical MBR in sector zero.
I'm unfamiliar with this but since the entire drive would be "unallocated" you would be able to format it.

Scleros · Dec 16, 2009, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by mitchsc

Does anyone know if Active Kill Disk will erase an external drive thru a USB port?...Or a secondary drive inside a PC?...Does it display all drives (internal and external) and allow you to choose which one you want to erase?

I'm thinking both yes and no depending on which version you are using and the specific hardware. The free DOS version shown in screenshot below did not detect an external USB drive I had connected. Yet, the screenshots on LSoft's site shows a removable drive listed in the Windows version.

It may be easier to contact LSoft and ask about your particular situation than trying to glean the info from digging through their marketing material.

mitchsc · Dec 16, 2009, 08:50 PM

Wow Scleros, Thanks for going to all the trouble to test this for me.

NeedKarma sent me a link to the User's Manual: http://www.killdisk.com/downloads/KillDisk_Win5.pdf

"Can you erase secondary or external drives?"

It appears that if you can see the drive, you can nuke it. (see 3.2.1, pgs 12 & 13, steps 1-3). Page 8 of Operator's Manual says "Supports fixed disks, floppies, zip drives, USB devices (ext drives)".

The manual talks about burning a bootable CD, but that may only be needed if you plan to erase the main drive (0). If you plan to erase a secondary or external drive, it seems that you can download the program into the “programs menu”.
(see 3.2.1, step 1, page 12).

Cautionary note on page 17 about Master Boot Record (MBR).

The version of Kill Disk on cnet downloads appears to list all internal and external drives, and allows you to select which one to nuke.

Sounds like a great utility. I have a drive I plan to try it on soon. Hope I don't end up deleting my drive 0 (Yikes!)