I lost 17.2 GB and Windows reactivation required!!! Help Please

[rebelscum0000]

I lost 17.2 GB and Windows reactivation required!!! Help Please

I have a Maxtor HD Internal IDE model 6L250R0, capacity 251 GB
Using TI and DD my partitions are:
Windows Home Ed SP2 EN Pri, Act., Hid Primary Partition 40 GB
Win XP Pro EN SP1 Pri Primary Partition 40 GB
OOS Hid Logical 7.844 GB
Free Hid Logical 145.9 GB

Now my Maxtor is 233.8 GB I will to try to fix this HD, What do I have to do first?
Uninstall OSS and Format and Delete all the Partitions­? Does someone know a tool from Maxtor/Seagate to format? Or can I fix using DD?

Thanks in advance for any help
Antonio Macias

[Brian K]

rebelscum0000,

251- 251/1.024^3= 17.2

It's normal.

[rebelscum0000]

Can you be so kind to explain me the formula?

[Brian K]

Does this make sense?

http://www.pcguide.com/intro/fun/bindec-c.html

[rebelscum0000]

Thank you, now let­’s suppose I want to start from scratch and have this HD as brand new
Is this possible? If yes which steps should I follow? First Uninstall OSS then format and delete the partitions will this work? To be honest, this HD is not mine; the owner is going to have a hard attack if he knows I test it in his HD…

Ok I learned something new today “Never test in a HD that are not yours”

[MudCrab]

You can use DD to Clear the drive. This will remove all partitions.
Then you can use DD to Wipe the unallocated space. This will write zeros to the drive, erasing anything on it.
Then, if you really want it cleared, use the Disk Editor to zero-out the MBR and any other used sectors up to 63.

If this is the booting drive, you'll have to boot to the DD CD to do this because it will erase everything on the drive including OSS, Windows, etc.