subject: Using Zero Fill Utility Assures Your Data is Irretrievable [print this page] When you are facing issues such as your computer is slow as a dinosaur and nothing you have tried seems to fix the issues from reoccurring such as spyware removal, virus scan as well as hard drive defragmentation, you may next have to try running the zero fill hard drive task. We will describe more about this in the following paragraphs. You should note however, that this definitely will remove and make all files stored un-recoverable.
To zero fill your hard drive you will need first create backups of your important files, photos, etc, onto another hard disk, online backup service, DVD, etc. Your files are going to be all wiped out, as this process is going to replace all data; it is called zero fill because it puts a 0 into each byte on your disk, from start to finish. This helps if you have a bad sector, or corrupt area, and wish to execute a fresh install. This task is performed on all partitions, including critical ones for instance the master boot record.
At this time Windows does not incorporate zero fill as an integrated utility, so you will have to get one either online or at your local computer retailer. You may ask why you would want to do a zero-fill when you are able do a quick format or format of the drive; simply answered the format option in your system does not perform a full erase; you can buy quite a few products that can retrieve the data. In the event that you are selling or gifting away or even throwing out your pc or hard drive, you don't want someone to be in a position to get entry to it, and possibly personal data compromised.
Be sure you realize that by running this utility this procedure will take quite some time, many hours in fact. This is influenced by the speed and size of the zero fill hard drive. Once it is running however, you will not have to sit and babysit it. The utility will work on its own.
To summarize, to zero-fill ones hard drive you are in essence overwriting each byte with a (thus the name zero fill), this technique will totally erase all computer data making it irretrievable. It is advisable to perform a full backup of your computer files prior to running this particular utility. Assuming you are able to, if files are stored on a bad sector or partition they may not be able to be saved.
Using Zero Fill Utility Assures Your Data is Irretrievable
