Hi!
I want to erase my drive fully with hd sentinel, but i dont want to do a full reinitializing, because the disk 9/10 contains no data (only zeros). Can I do that to set in the write surface test, the start and the end block's number? That's not touches the header, or the partition table? I can use it completely safe then?
Thanks for the replys.
Surface write test question
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hdsentinel
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Re: Surface write test question
If you want to erase the disk drive fully, then I suggest to use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Write test (by the default settings).
This will clear all sectors INCLUDING the partition table (Master Boot Record) and possible sectors outside the partitions, possible non-Windows partitions, so then the disk drive will be "fresh" empty.
You can specify partial erase of course, selecting start/end blocks: if you select Disk menu -> Surface test -> Write test and the drive, please open Configuration tab in this window before starting the test.
There you may notice the Limit testing to specific data blocks. Under this option you can specify first block where to start the disk testing. For example, if you specify 4000, then the disk test will start from 40%, if previously the first 40% tested (as each block represents 0.01% of the complete usable data area).
Please see:
https://www.hdsentinel.com/kb/category/ ... drive.html
> That's not touches the header, or the partition table?
The partition table is location in sector 0. So if you start the overwrite from block #1 then the partition table itself will be preserved - and then you'd have an empty/unformatted partition.
I do not really recommend this as then further sectors (in block #0) will be also not erased (can be 100000's of sectors or even more depending on the disk size).
So it is better to erase the complete disk drive, without specifying first/last blocks.
> I can use it completely safe then?
I do not really understand the question, what do you mean "safe".
The function will overwrite all specific (selected) blocks on the disk. If you have (for example) multiple partitions, then I can't say that it's safe to delete (overwrite) only one of them this way because partitions may start at different sector, not where a particular block starts.
If you want to delete all data and make a drive like a new (uninitialized) (for example if you prefer a complete, clean re-install or especially if you want to sell/replace the drive) then I'd recommend to perform complete overwrite to be sure and "safe" (to prevent data recovery too).
During the test (or before, if you click on the View button after selecting Disk menu -> Surface test) you can click on the disk surface map (the small squares) to inspect the contents of any sector. By that, you can confirm which is stored in which sector - and which ones are empty.
However, if your disk is 10% filled, then you still can't be sure that the data is located in the very first 10%, you may notice stored data in any sector on the disk surface.
So overwrite only the first 10% may not mean that all data surely cleared/erased.
This will clear all sectors INCLUDING the partition table (Master Boot Record) and possible sectors outside the partitions, possible non-Windows partitions, so then the disk drive will be "fresh" empty.
You can specify partial erase of course, selecting start/end blocks: if you select Disk menu -> Surface test -> Write test and the drive, please open Configuration tab in this window before starting the test.
There you may notice the Limit testing to specific data blocks. Under this option you can specify first block where to start the disk testing. For example, if you specify 4000, then the disk test will start from 40%, if previously the first 40% tested (as each block represents 0.01% of the complete usable data area).
Please see:
https://www.hdsentinel.com/kb/category/ ... drive.html
> That's not touches the header, or the partition table?
The partition table is location in sector 0. So if you start the overwrite from block #1 then the partition table itself will be preserved - and then you'd have an empty/unformatted partition.
I do not really recommend this as then further sectors (in block #0) will be also not erased (can be 100000's of sectors or even more depending on the disk size).
So it is better to erase the complete disk drive, without specifying first/last blocks.
> I can use it completely safe then?
I do not really understand the question, what do you mean "safe".
The function will overwrite all specific (selected) blocks on the disk. If you have (for example) multiple partitions, then I can't say that it's safe to delete (overwrite) only one of them this way because partitions may start at different sector, not where a particular block starts.
If you want to delete all data and make a drive like a new (uninitialized) (for example if you prefer a complete, clean re-install or especially if you want to sell/replace the drive) then I'd recommend to perform complete overwrite to be sure and "safe" (to prevent data recovery too).
During the test (or before, if you click on the View button after selecting Disk menu -> Surface test) you can click on the disk surface map (the small squares) to inspect the contents of any sector. By that, you can confirm which is stored in which sector - and which ones are empty.
However, if your disk is 10% filled, then you still can't be sure that the data is located in the very first 10%, you may notice stored data in any sector on the disk surface.
So overwrite only the first 10% may not mean that all data surely cleared/erased.