Solved: Seagate FreeAgent Go

[ottiliegirl]

After a disastrous session where a company took control of
my laptop, I now feel the need to erase everything on my portable Seagate FreeAgent Go drive in order to start over with a clean slate. The erase method suggested in the manual is only to be used if your drive locks up on you. Can anyone tell me how to clean the drive and start over. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[crjdriver]

If you just want to delete everything on the drive, you can simply delete the partition in disk management. Create a new partition and format with FAT32 or NTFS.
If you are really paranoid that there is something on the disk, you can wipe or secure erase the drive then do the above ie create a new partition and format.

There are a number of utilities that will wipe a drive however I use parted magic linux for this task [along with a number of other tasks]
Here is a link to the last free version;
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/parted_magic.html

 

[ottiliegirl]

Thank you for your reply. I was hoping there was some way to do this without installing any additional program to my already compromised laptop. I need to get the laptop back working properly 100% before I introduce new software but I appreciate your reply and will consider it later.

 

[crjdriver]

You do not need to install anything; the linux link I gave you runs from bootable media ie a live usb or dvd. It is also an extremely useful tool to have on hand for file rescue, secure erase of ssd type drives, hard disk testing, etc, etc.

 

[ottiliegirl]

[Not sure I understand. Do I download the program to a USB ? If so then what? I'm sorry but I'm not sure I am knowledgeable enough to know my way around these things. If it's not too much trouble can you spell it out for me. I appreciate your help.

 

[crjdriver]

OK, the linux distro comes as an iso file. You burn the iso using something like cdburnerxp, imgburn, nero, etc. [The first two are free downloads] If you want to make a bootable usb, you can use unetbootin or rufus [again both free downloads]
The unetbootin site has detailed instructions on how to make the bootable usb;
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

If you choose to make a dvd, you need both a blank dvd, and a burning program. Right click on the iso file [after you download it] and choose to open with whatever burning program you have. It will then give you a few prompts and start buring the dvd. Once you create either the dvd or usb, you need to access your bios and set it to boot from the dvd/usb as the first boot device.

With all of that said, what exactly are you attempting to accomplish ie clean install of windows, wipe your drive and clean install, what?
Do you have the install and or recovery disks for your laptop?

 

[ottiliegirl]

This is not for my laptop. It is to erase all backups currently on my FreeAgent Go portable Drive so I can start over with a clean slate to make new backups. What you have suggested is beyond the scope of anything a know how to do. I appreciate your help but I am not familiar enough with working on computers to undertake this task. With the price of these what it is I might be better off to just buy a new portable drive for my backups.]
Thank you for trying to help.

 

[crjdriver]

If it is just that you want to get rid of whatever is on the drive, just format the drive either in disk management or explorer. That will get rid of everything on the drive.

I was thinking you wanted to wipe the drive because of some virus, malware, etc on the drive. A simple format will do what you want. You can even select quick format to save some time.

 

[ottiliegirl]

That sounds like something I can handle. I will definitely look into that. Thank you