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Contents > RUNNING Active@ KillDisk
Users Guide
Modes of Operation
Active@ KILLDISK for Hard Drives can be used three ways:
It is wise to label the floppy disk to identify the way you plan to use Active@
KILLDISK for Hard Drives.
DOS Interactive Mode and Command Line Mode are similar in that
you can control what happens after the utility has started. In Autoexecute
Mode, however, Active@ KILLDISK for Hard Drives will start immediately
upon completion of the bootstrap startup (depending on the automatic settings).
This section describes using the DOS Interactive screens. For “hands-off”
operation, please see the next section, below.
Here are the steps for interactive operation:
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With the PC power off, insert the Active@ KILLDISK for Hard Drives floppy
disk into drive A:.
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Start the PC by turning on the power. The screen will display the Microsoft DOS
prompt.
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At the DOS prompt, run Active@ KILLDISK for Hard Drives by typing:
KILLDISK.EXE
The Detected Physical Devices screen appears as below:
Figure 3-1 Detected Physical Devices
All system hard drives and floppy drives will be displayed in the left pane
along with their system information in the right pane.
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Change the position cursor using the keyboard [Down] and [Up] arrow
keys.
Information in the right pane will change according to the structure of the
detected devices.
Hard drive devices are numbered by the system BIOS. A system with a single hard
drive will show it as number 80h. Subsequent hard drive devices will be
numbered consecutively. For example the second device will be shown as 81h.
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Be certain that the drive you are pointing to is the one that you want to
erase. All data will be permanently erased with no chance for recovery.
If there is any doubt about which drive to select, preview the sectors in the
device by pressing [Ctrl + S]. The screen appears, as below:
Figure 3-2 Preview Sector
Scroll up and down using the keyboard arrow keys, [Page Up], [Page
Down], [Home] and [End] navigation keys. Jump to a specific
sector using [Ctrl + G]. When you are satisfied with the identification
of the device, press [Esc] to exit this screen.
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When you have selected the device to erase, move the cursor to that device and
press [Enter] on the keyboard. The Configuration Screen appears.
Figure 3-3 Configuration Screen
Using the keyboard arrow keys, select the feature that you want to configure.
Press [Enter] to make a change.
To assist with options presented in this screen, please refer to the Table
3-1.
Table 3-1 Erase Parameters Configuration
|
Feature
|
Default
|
Options
|
Erase Method |
US DoD 5220.22M |
One pass zeros
One pass random
US DoD 5220.22M
German VSITR
Russian GOST p-50739-95
Gutmann
User Defined Number of Passes
(For descriptions of these options see ANOTHER PLACE, below.)
|
|
Passes |
3 |
If User Defined Number of Passes is selected in the line above, this number may
be changed. Otherwise this line will display the standard number of passes for
the selected erase method.
|
|
Verification |
Enabled / 40% |
Enabled: Utility inspects the work done by KILLDISK to verify that the attempt
was successful. The percentage shown indicates how much of the drive is
verified.
Disabled: Verification is not performed
|
|
Retry Attempts |
5 |
If the process encounters an IO error, the number of times the operation will
repeat before displaying an error message. Repeating the operation will
sometimes help to overcome IO problems.
|
|
Ignore Errors |
Disabled |
Enabled: Each time the read heads encounter a read-write error, a message
appears that requires confirmation by the user.
Disabled: Error messages are not displayed.
|
|
Clear Log File before Start
|
Enabled |
|
|
Skip Confirmation |
Disabled |
Next step confirmation screen does not appear. |
The Confirm Action screen appears.
Figure 3-4 Confirm Action
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This is the final step before removing data from the selected drive for ever.
Once the process has started, you may stop it by pressing the [Esc] key.
Type ERASE-ALL-DATA and press [Enter]. Progress of the erasing
procedure will be monitored in the Disk Erasing screen, similar to the
one below:
Figure 3-5 Disk Erasing in Progress
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If you wish to stop the process for any reason after it has begun, press the [Esc]
key. Please note, however that erased data will not be recoverable. There
is nothing more to do until the end of the disk erasing process. The
application will operate on its own without user intervention.
If there are any errors, for example due to bad clusters, they will be reported
on the Interactive screen. If such a message appears, it will be possible to
cancel the operation (by pressing [Esc]), or continue erasing data.
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