Trouble wiping drive

[Zuriick]

I am trying to wipe my hard disk with Dban but it won't recognize the fact that I actually have a hard disk. Is there anything else out there that I could use? Good ol google isn't bringing up anything useful. I used the older version on a laptop and it worked no problem so I tried it on my main. I then tried the newer version both times from a cd/r.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BinarySynapse]

it may be that DBAN doesn't recognize your disk controller. If it's a SATA drive, try changing to IDE or Legacy mode

 

[JSpyder]

Is the HD plugged into your board directly via the stata interface (you normally have about 6 to 8 these days) or the one for the outside estata to go which would be available on the outside or rear of the case?

If its plugged into a PCIe (a inserted controller board) it's normally not recognized on boot so switch things around so the hd is connected to the board and avoid the drivers.

Either way - if its PCIe then connect to the ports on the board and give it a try, same for if it in the esata port.
You could plug directly into the boards esata port and try to format it as well - not the rear or front of the case.

Just a suggestion from my experience.

Also it could be listed as a "windows active partition" like you tried at one time to install windows or vista on it?

If so you can load the vista or windows disk and search thru the limited options and format the drive.
You might then - after success - from experience - have to "repair" your drive as it might not find you original boot drive.
The repair options works and then you can boot - just a problem I had after not being able to format a drive.

 

[Old Hippie]

I have been trying to use DBAN on my Dell Optiplex 270 so I can wipe all my files before I donate the computer to my kids school. The technicians at the school told me to use DBAN if I want to securely wipe everything. Unfortunately, I cannot get DBAN to work; I keep getting "Non-fatal errors" after running only 3 seconds.

After having so many problems with DBAN, I talked to the head tech for the school district, who said the school districtis now using EBAN (Enterprise Boot & Nuke) since DBAN v2.0 does not support SATA and SATA-2 controllers. The one tech said that since DBAN has become so well known, the author has crippled DBAN to force people to purchase EBAN.

I seem to recall a discussion about why would anyone use the corporate version "EBAN", when DBAN would do the trick. There were a few posts about how v1.06 didn't recognize SATA drives and that if use switch SATA drives to function in "PATA/IDE/ATA" mode then v1.06 would function as expected.

The author then released v1.07 and v2.0, and that functionality had been removed. And you can no longer download v1.06 from the DBAN site (try "Hippofiles" maybe).

Go here for DBAN 1.06