TC McConnell Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 I have been running a dual boot system (xp/Linux) for a some time, but I now need to reformat the drive to do a clean installation of Windows 7 Pro (without the dual boot). My question is this. When I do a complete reformat will it also clean the sector on the drive that does the dual boot start-up? My concern is that this process resides on the drive in a location that the reformatting won't touch, causing a failure of the new install. What is the best way to reformat prior to a clean install?Thanks - TCM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 The best thing to do is a "low level format". This will fill the drive with zeros and remove all previous data and return the drive to factory condition - provided there are no physical faults with the drive. The technique of carrying out a low level format varies with the drive and its manufacturer. Check on the makers website for details and download of the software to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TC McConnell Posted June 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 Thank you very much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted June 25, 2013 Report Share Posted June 25, 2013 The question is what boot manager you used for dual booting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted June 26, 2013 Report Share Posted June 26, 2013 For erasing the drive Active@ KillDisk. works a charm and free. No MBR, boot-manager, virus or other lurkers about afterward....The drive can be diagnosed with spcific tool navigated through this website. If the specific cannot be found; please provide exact make/model of WD and we'll go from there, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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