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diskpart's "clean all" hangs, no signs of HD activity

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  diskpart's "clean all" hangs, no signs of HD activity AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-06-11 23:57 -0700
    Re: diskpart's "clean all" hangs, no signs of HD activity "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-06-12 19:32 +1000
    Re: diskpart's "clean all" hangs, no signs of HD activity andymhancock@gmail.com - 2012-06-12 23:23 -0700

#1459 — diskpart's "clean all" hangs, no signs of HD activity

I am following the instructions at
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html
to erase my entire HD before sending my laptop somewhere.  In
particular, I am issuing the diskpart command from a "command prompt
at boot".  I only have one HD on the laptop, Disk 0, and I selected it
before "clean all".  The above webpage says it takes approximately 1
hour per 300GB, and I have 300GB but it is still not done after 2
hours.  However, I also note that the HD LED is not showing any
activity.

Has the process hung due to the fact that I am cleaning the same HD
that I am operating from? Is it advisable to forcibly shut the machine
down, then haul the HD out into an external enclosure so that I can
use another computer to look/see what was erased?  Will it hurt the HD
to interrupt such a (possibly hung) erasing procedure?

I am running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on a Toshiba Satellite Pro S750-008
(a.k.a. PSSERC-00800)

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#1461

AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> wrote

> I am following the instructions at
> http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html
> to erase my entire HD before sending my laptop somewhere.
> In particular, I am issuing the diskpart command from a
> "command prompt at boot".  I only have one HD on the
> laptop, Disk 0, and I selected it before "clean all".  The
> above webpage says it takes approximately 1 hour per
> 300GB, and I have 300GB but it is still not done after 2 hours.
> However, I also note that the HD LED is not showing any activity.

> Has the process hung due to the fact that I am
> cleaning the same HD that I am operating from?

Nope, it should refuse to do that if it doesn't like it.

> Is it advisable to forcibly shut the machine down,

Yes.

> then haul the HD out into an external enclosure so that
> I can use another computer to look/see what was erased?

Nope. Just use DBan to erase it instead.
http://www.dban.org/

> Will it hurt the HD to interrupt such a (possibly hung) erasing procedure?

Not if there is no led activity and not even if there was.

> I am running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on a Toshiba
> Satellite Pro S750-008 (a.k.a. PSSERC-00800)

 

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#1464

On Tuesday, June 12, 2012 2:57:14 AM UTC-4, AndyHancock wrote:
> I am following the instructions at
> http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html
> to erase my entire HD before sending my laptop somewhere.  In
> particular, I am issuing the diskpart command from a "command prompt
> at boot".  I only have one HD on the laptop, Disk 0, and I selected it
> before "clean all".  The above webpage says it takes approximately 1
> hour per 300GB, and I have 300GB but it is still not done after 2
> hours.  However, I also note that the HD LED is not showing any
> activity.
> 
> Has the process hung due to the fact that I am cleaning the same HD
> that I am operating from? Is it advisable to forcibly shut the machine
> down, then haul the HD out into an external enclosure so that I can
> use another computer to look/see what was erased?  Will it hurt the HD
> to interrupt such a (possibly hung) erasing procedure?
> 
> I am running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on a Toshiba Satellite Pro S750-008
> (a.k.a. PSSERC-00800)

Thanks, Rod.

I tried ctrl-C, which brought me back to the command prompt.  However, after exiting and attempting to reboot, it kept complaining about missing something or other (I didn't write it down).  So I resorted to using the System Recover discs.

Here is where I strayed from the beaten path.  In the link in my original post, I followed the link for "command prompt at boot".  From there, I followed the link for Advanced Boot Options.  From those combinations of links, it seemed that it was possible to erase the HD from which the system booted.  I couldn't fathom why, but I assumed that it was because command prompt at boot was self-contained in memory.

From the feedback that I've gotten on this, however, I am obviously wrong.  That probably applies to when you get command prompt at boot from a repair disc.  For Toshiba laptops, we are instructed to make a set of recovery discs rather than a repair disc.  Fortunately, when I boot off the first disc, I get the option of going to system recovery options, and from there, I found my way to the system prompt at boot.  So far, the erase-all seems to be proceeding sanely, judging only from the fact that the HD LED is on continuously.  I'll see if it's done in an hour before considering moving to other products such as what you suggest.

Thanks for getting me back on track!

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