What is the best software to reformat a corrupted hard drive?

[soarwitheagles]

Just wanted some good advice as to what is some good software to reformat a corrupted hard drive. I was told that using Windows does not do that great of a job.

Thank you,

Soar

 

[DoubleHelix]

Formatting is formatting. You'd only need a special utility if Windows can't recognize the file format on the drive. It's not like another program really formats it.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Formatting is formatting. You'd only need a special utility if Windows can't recognize the file format on the drive. It's not like another program really formats it.

Windows cannot recognize my largest drive. It had Windows Vista Ultimate on it and then some months ago gave me black screen of death, and I have never been able to use it since [except using Ubuntu to transfer some files].

What is best?

Thanks,

Soar

 

[DoubleHelix]

I've never heard of the "black screen of death" before. If the drive failed, formatting won't fix it.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I've never heard of the "black screen of death" before. If the drive failed, formatting won't fix it.

Mak explained it to me and he also gave me a website that explains it...and yes, it was a genuine black screen of death on a Vista operating system...

Anyway, I can access my important files using Ubuntu, but when I try to use Acronis, it will not recognize any more that one HD. I have 3 hard drives on this particular system, two of which are working fine...

I simply desire to reformat the corrupted HD and make it ready for re use.

Can anyone help me on this please?

Soar

PS I have a brand new copy of Ghost 14 that is still sealed and never used...I can use it if I absolutely must, but I was hoping to save it and ebay it one day...

 

[Lexluethar]

G-Parted is a great free ISO software that does a great job of formatting.

And formatting isn't just formatting, as many know the formatting tools that come with Windows really suck and do a horrible job of formatting.

As for the black screen of death there was a HUGE hub-bub about windows freezing at a black screen, it was giving the name black-screen of death. They made a huge deal about it because everyone was worried that thier computer running windows vista was going to get this which requires a reformat. Turns out that there were only a handful of reported 'cases' of this and it ended up being a driver that the companies had loaded onto their PC's that caused the black screen of death.

Soar - get G-Parted, it is free and easy to use.

 

[soarwitheagles]

G-Parted is a great free ISO software that does a great job of formatting.

And formatting isn't just formatting, as many know the formatting tools that come with Windows really suck and do a horrible job of formatting.

As for the black screen of death there was a HUGE hub-bub about windows freezing at a black screen, it was giving the name black-screen of death. They made a huge deal about it because everyone was worried that thier computer running windows vista was going to get this which requires a reformat. Turns out that there were only a handful of reported 'cases' of this and it ended up being a driver that the companies had loaded onto their PC's that caused the black screen of death.

Soar - get G-Parted, it is free and easy to use.

Lex,

Thanks for the great info and I am headed to Planet G-Parted now.

Up, up and away!

Soar

G-Parted is a great free ISO software that does a great job of formatting.

And formatting isn't just formatting, as many know the formatting tools that come with Windows really suck and do a horrible job of formatting.

As for the black screen of death there was a HUGE hub-bub about windows freezing at a black screen, it was giving the name black-screen of death. They made a huge deal about it because everyone was worried that thier computer running windows vista was going to get this which requires a reformat. Turns out that there were only a handful of reported 'cases' of this and it ended up being a driver that the companies had loaded onto their PC's that caused the black screen of death.

Soar - get G-Parted, it is free and easy to use.

Lex,

Ok, I ran G-Parted, but now the computer will not boot. The message it gives me is:


BOOTMGR is missing

I think when I erased the old hard drive that had the corrupted version of Windows Vista, that it also erased the bootmanager.

Can anyone help me to understand how to get my wife's computer to boot from the HD that has the Windows 7 Ultimate?

Is it possible that I am to change the flag order or something like that on the HD with the Windows 7 Ultimate?

Wow! I feel as if I am way over my head now.

This is quite a learning experience!

Thanks,

Soar

 

[Hefemeister]

run a win7 startup repair. I have had to do this before when running gparted with win7
Startup Repair: frequently asked questions

 

[KSoD]

Well first did you try to fix the KSoD? (Black Screen of Death)

Vista Black Screen of Death - Bing

I mean there are fixes and patches to it now.

But what you will need to do is with GParted, set the Win7 drive as the boot drive with their flags. Since Vista had it, your system active drive cant be managed by Windows now. Then you need to use the Win7 DVD and do the startup repair like Hefe posted.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Well first did you try to fix the KSoD? (Black Screen of Death)

Vista Black Screen of Death - Bing

I mean there are fixes and patches to it now.

But what you will need to do is with GParted, set the Win7 drive as the boot drive with their flags. Since Vista had it, your system active drive cant be managed by Windows now. Then you need to use the Win7 DVD and do the startup repair like Hefe posted.

Thanks again Mak. I will try it when I arrive home later today. I did not attempt to repair the BLKSOD for two reasons:

1. I did not know there was a solution
2. I installed Windows 7 and no longer felt a need for Vista

I'm just happy you guys have shown me the solution [my wife is without a computer now for nearly 24 hours].

We are having trouble with one other issue and I wanted to ask if doing the repair would address that issue as well.

I accidently unplugged a wireless network adapter from the back of my computer and afterwards Windows 7 network sharing system seems to have stopped working.

I reinstalled the software for the NetGear Wireless G adapter but windows still would not pick up any wireless signal. I also installed a brand new wireless N Rosewill network adapter and that did not work too. Both of these adapters use a USB port to attach to my computer.

Can anyone here help me resolve this issue [BTW this all occurred before I ran the G-Parted and messed up the Boot Manager].

When I attempted to set up a new wireless connection or network via the Windows Network and Sharing Center, it no longer worked [would not show the wireless signals around me].

Thanks,

Soar