[plug] installing linux cont.

[Brad Campbell]

Michael Holland wrote:

> Thanks for that. I downloaded, installed and ran winhex, and found the
> feature, only to find it was a cripple-ware version. I just wish they'd tell
> you up-front that its a demo version.
>   So now i'm installing cygwin, so I can
> $ cat /dev/zero > big-file-to-fill-disk

Oops, sorry about that. Yes I did forget I have a paid-up version (needed it for some forensic work 
on an NTFS partition a while back, and it paid for itself 10x over in the value of the data it 
helped me recover).

> Will this be good enough for a clean XP install? I want to save an image
> once all the win-update patches are applied, and firefox et al installed.

Should be pretty good.. the extra erasing winhex does is just icing on the cake. You don't *need* to 
zero anything, I just do it to make the backups smaller.

You could grab "Eraser" which is a GPL gui version of a data eraser.. does a good job also, just 
can't do the MFT and not such a good job on the file tails.. it does better than dd though.
> 
> BTW, you didn't need to use gparted before Ubuntu. It has its own
> NTFS-resizer built in to the installer. Or don't you trust that?

Just used what I was comfortable with I guess..
Plus being comfortable with it, I *knew* it was not going to damage anything.. best not try out 
new/unfamilar tools with girlfriends data, even *if* we have made backups. I'll set up a windows 
partition on my scratch laptop and do an ubuntu install to learn about it when I get the chance though.

Currently I'd much rather say "Ok sweetie, it's all done", rather than "Oops, best restore that 
backup and try again. It'll just be a little longer" :)

Brad
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