On 19/12/09 15:28, John Heinen wrote:

I have someone's computer here, totally corrupted, the message I get is " No keyboard or no mouse" the only way I can get onto the drive is by puppy Linux, how do I completely format this drive?

You don't mention what brand of HD it is, nor what OS was installed on it, nor how old it is, nor how big it is. The last is not that important. If the HD is as bad as you describe then formatting is not what you should first do to it. The first thing to do is to wipe it from Sector 0 to the last Sector. The best way to do this is to get hold of the disc tool from the maker of the HD - eg, SEA TOOLS [FOR DOS] from Seagate for Seagate, Maxtor, Quantum drives - and wipe the HD. Doing so will also locate and record any bad sectors - which may the reason why the HD is so corrupted and probably therefore needs to be replaced because of the bad sectors. After the wipe, if installing a Linux system then it should format the HD for itself, or if using Windows then you would need to format the HD using some Windows aware application - like Acronis (or whatever else there may be). BC -- If you don't succeed you run the risk of failure. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org