[moscatomg1]

Great! Thanks, rshaffer61 (and 123Runner). I love this community. Even for more of just a tech appreciator like myself (NOT a programmer or expert techie by any means), it's always cool to learn new things, programs, etc.

As I mentioned w/ my concerns, I'm going to test all of this out first on my old Inspiron (the wipe and OS reinstall). In fact, I've already started it. However, I forgot to check partitions on that one, though I'm sure it had one of those safety/recover partitions since it was what came from Dell.

I just chose PRNG, and it never gave me any other options about whatever partitions. And it automatically started running the 8-pass PRNG (as opposed to the 4-pass I've read about).

I'll let you know how this test goes, though it may take a while from what I've read.

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Ok, so not surprisingly I had an error message--but only after DBAN had worked for over 3hrs. I'm attaching a jpeg photo.

1) I have no idea what this means, and 2) I don't know how to check that log that it mentions.

Can you please advise. I'd like to know what happened before I go to the trouble of the OS re-install.

Thank you.

Edited by moscatomg1, 24 November 2010 - 04:01 PM.

[moscatomg1]

Ok, so not surprisingly I had an error message--but only after DBAN had worked for over 3hrs. I'm attaching a jpeg photo.

1) I have no idea what this means, and 2) I don't know how to check that log that it mentions.

Can you please advise. I'd like to know what happened before I go to the trouble of the OS re-install.

Thank you.

Edited by moscatomg1, 24 November 2010 - 04:01 PM.

[rshaffer61]

I wonder if the Hitachi drive is failing with that message.

With a 18 gig partition it's showing is that the older drive?

[moscatomg1]

I wonder if the Hitachi drive is failing with that message.

crap. well that's exactly why I wanted to test this first.

With a 18 gig partition it's showing is that the older drive?

yes, this in the Inspiron 8100 I wanted to test on. This Inspiron hd is a "20 gb" hd, so if this message means it failed on the big, main 18 gig partition, then that's a major fail. . . . I wonder what it was doing for 3+ hrs.

Well even though this Inspiron's Hitachi hd is ooold, if DBAN put such a load on it to bring it to failing then I'm really hesitant to try dban on a sys. I care about until I'm prepared w/ a fresh internal HD to slip in right away. I'm wondering now about just buying another $55-65 Western Digital 500 gb HD and taking the hammer to the current 500 (465) gb HD. (Once it's in the dump that will give me more security than even dban can offer, save me the 12+ hrs. & load on the sys. from the wipe, and I'll have a fresh start). Hmmm.

[rshaffer61]

I care about until I'm prepared w/ a fresh internal HD to slip in right away. I'm wondering now about just buying another $55-65 Western Digital 500 gb HD and taking the hammer to the current 500 (465) gb HD.

If this drive is good then there is no reason to destroy it. Wipe it clean and do a fresh install.
That will take care of anything on it.
The other it is probably just time to replace it.

[moscatomg1]

The other it is probably just time to replace it.

I doubt that it was just coincidence. I have regularly been using that laptop to play movies w/ a dual screen set up, and it has been working rather flawlessly considering its age.

And I guess who knows if it is even failing for real? I'm still not sure at all what that message I posted w/ the jpeg even means. And, again, I don't know how to access that log for a closer look (though whether that log would be a big help is questionable, too, I guess.)

If this drive is good then there is no reason to destroy it.

Maybe. But, since I'm now wary about DBAN, I'm ordering a 2nd one so it's ready to go in case DBAN yields another problem when I try it on this 465 gb hd. . . . We'll see what happens. I'll get back w/ another post when that safety drive arrives--hopefully the thread won't close by the time I get back in touch.

Thanks for the patience and continued help.

[rshaffer61]

No worry about the thread closing as we don't close threads in this forum.
Let us know when you have the other drives or if you need instructions on how to do a fresh install. We will be happy to help.

[moscatomg1]

Cool. Oh, another thing about that Inspiron hd w/ DBAN: I ran it again and paid more attn. to it as it worked.

This time I did the DoD 5220-22.M. Its final screen gave me the exact same error message, BUT prior I noticed that there were "0" errors as the program was working--up until somewhere near the tail end (70-99%) of the final (7th) pass.

As of about 99% on the last pass, there were 8 errors total. Also they were all classified as "verifying"(?) errors. So that made me think of a connection b/twn. that and the "non-fatal" errors on that final black screen.

Does this info give us any more insight as to what's going on w/ DBAN and that drive?

[rshaffer61]

Nor sure but it seems it is having a problem verifying something from your description.
Is the drive completely clean now?

[moscatomg1]

Is the drive completely clean now?

I have no idea--and no idea how to check. . . . How do I check?

[rshaffer61]

You can try booting with a linux live cd but if the drive isn't being identified in the bios then it's useless at this point.

[moscatomg1]

if the drive isn't being identified in the bios then it's useless at this point

Well, I think the drive IS being recognized. So I'd rather not give up yet.

Again, I really have no idea what I'm doing, but I hit F2 and it sure looks like it takes me to "BIOS," and one of the "pgs" says "Primary Hard Disk (Drive?): 200005 MB."

So that's good, right?

So now how exactly do I check to see if it's "completely clean"?

[rshaffer61]

Try the following but don't worry about the backup instructions. Just get to the point ofmounting the main drive so you can see if there are any files left on it.
Get Puppy Linux from my signature below...Get puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso download it and burn it to cd
..
if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files get Burncdcc from my signature...it is a small FAST no frills iso burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its puppy-2.16-seamonkey-fulldrivers.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....

put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....puppy will boot and run totally in ram...if your hardware is is good working order you will know...
after you get it running and your at the desktop...you take the puppy linux cd out and then you can use the burner to copy all your data to cd/dvds
you can also use it to backup your data to a external usb harddrive..just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with puppy...

==========================
quick guide for saving data...music..files on a system that will not boot using puppy Linux..


after you get to puppy desktop..
click on the drives icon...looks like a flash drive...top row..it will list all the drives connected to

your computer...

click on the red icon for the drive you want to mount...in this case its a flash drive ...puppy will

mount the drive..the drive icon turns green when its mounted...
minimize the drives mounter window..you will need it again in a few minutes..
drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size...about half the width of the screen...then drag the window to the right edge of the screen...

now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive...it should
already be green..
you will see a list of all the folders on the main drive Usually your C: drive..shrink that window to
the narrowest you can..about half the width of the screen...drag that window to the left side of the screen...
at this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop..the flash drive on the right side..
go back to the folders on the C: drive...click on the documents and settings folder...then your user
name or all users..find the folders that has your data..
drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window...

your options are to move ..copy ect...JUST COPY..if its to big you will have to open the folder and
drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full...(I have a 120 GB external USB drive for
big data recovery jobs and a 4 GB flash drive for the smaller jobs)..after you get the files copied to
the flash drive...
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier
UNMOUNT THE FLASH DRIVE by clicking on the green icon..you will once in awhile get error messages when
unmouting the drive..ignore them..when the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the
flash drive..trot on over (stroll if you want to look cool) to another computer and plug in the flash

drive and copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer..
make sure the other computer can read them...

now delete the data on the flash drive...take it back to the misbehaving computer and plug it in

again..click on the drives icon again and repeat until you have all your data transferred to the working
system..

Thanks to happyrock

[moscatomg1]

I had to edit and remove some pics from earlier posts to fit this image . . . . But I'm guessing this error is bad?

So it looks like either by coincidence or b/c DBAN was somehow simply "too much" (more likely in my opinion), my hd on my dinosaur inspiron dell went kaput w/ this attempt to wipe it.

Well that sucks. But at least it was a test sys. that I'm not going to loose sleep over.

Edited by moscatomg1, 24 November 2010 - 04:12 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Well you can try now to install XP and if it doesn't find a drive it will tell you No Drive Identified.

So it looks like either by coincidence or b/c DBAN was somehow simply "too much" (more likely in my opinion), my hd on my dinosaur inspiron dell went kaput w/ this attempt to wipe it.

My opinion is that it's just a coincidence if the drive died at the same time you ran DBAN. As you said it is much older system.