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Very simple question - can a Ubuntu 9.10 distro format a hard drive in ntfs format?

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Short answer: Ubuntu can create NTFS partitions, but if your real goal was to irreversibly “wipe” the Windows C: drive (as clarified) you need to pick the right sanitization method for the drive type rather than just a filesystem tool. correctly pointed out GUI and command-line options for partitioning; for secure erasure you should use dedicated erasure utilities and do the work from a Live USB or by attaching the drive to another machine. (csrc.nist.gov)

For spinning hard disks, bootable erasers that overwrite the whole device are appropriate. Tools descended from DBAN (like nwipe) are commonly used for consumer HDDs; they offer multiple wipe patterns and a simple interface. Note that these utilities are designed for magnetic drives — their documentation explicitly warns about limits with modern flash-based storage and compliance-grade reporting. (dban.org)

For SSDs and NVMe media, overwriting from the host is unreliable because of wear leveling and remapped blocks. Use device-native sanitization: ATA “Secure Erase” (hdparm) on ATA/SATA drives or NVMe sanitize/format via nvme-cli for NVMe devices. Vendor utilities or controller-level sanitize commands are preferable; also be aware that some USB enclosures and “frozen” controller states can block low-level commands. Validate the drive type before you proceed. (man7.org)

Practical checklist: identify the disk (for example with lsblk), boot from a Live image so the target disk is not mounted, disconnect other drives, back up anything needed, and double-check device names before erasing. For simple file/partition cleanup shred-style overwrites exist but have limitations on certain filesystems and on flash devices — consult the tool docs for those caveats. If the data is highly sensitive or you need an auditable certificate, use a certified commercial service or physical destruction. (gnu.org)

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Member Avatar for here2serve

Very simple question - can a Ubuntu 9.10 distro format a hard drive in ntfs format?

Do you mean that you want to install Ubuntu onto a ntfs partition or that you need to partition a drive as ntfs?

From the command prompt use

If you need to do it from a live cd and want a gui use gparted

Member Avatar for normanallen

Actually I was trying to wipe my Windows C: drive, and wanted to know if Ubuntu could do it.

Member Avatar for here2serve

Actually I was trying to wipe my Windows C: drive, and wanted to know if Ubuntu could do it.

If you are dual booting and want to reformat the windows partition
sudo apt-get install gparted

Once you open gparted it should be pretty straight forward for you.

If you need to wipe a drive from the live cd. Don't do this if you are dual booting.

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda [for a sata sda for ide hda]
or for a more secure wipe but it will take longer
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda

dd is going to start at the beginning of the drive and over write every block including the boot sector.

Reformatting a drive will NOT wipe it. I have recovered 33+ gb of usable data from a 160gb drive that had been reformatted and a fresh install of XP.

Edited by here2serve because: clarity
Member Avatar for normanallen

Thank you. That should be enough to get me going!

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