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"Silent" drive format utility?


krandun

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I'm working with some U3 flash drives, trying to make a little payload for use on my primary flash drive.  I've got a nice little batch file set to autorun from the CD partition which:

Checks to see if it's plugged into a computer that's not mine

If it is, pop up a dialog box with (e-mail address 1) and increment a counter file

If the counter file shows this is the 3rd time it's been plugged into a foreign computer, format the flash drive

If the flash partition has already been formatted, switch the pop up message to (e-mail address 2) so I'll know that my drive nuked itself before they decided to return it.

The only problem is that the format never works.  I've tried FORMAT in the batch file, and a couple of portable multi-pass secure delete programs and gotten nowhere.  Could anyone suggest a program that formats a drive with no prompts? Command-line input would be fine, but an INI file would be problematic since it'll be stored on the CD partition.

Thank you.

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If you are using a U3 drive, you will be unable to format the CD portion with any conventional utility.

As far as the O/S is concerned, that parttion is read only.

You would need something U3 specific to accomplish this, which may be possible through the DAPI.

If you'd just like to wipe the data in software, use the DAPI (U3 SDK) to set a password, then set a new password. 

This sequence causes the flash controller to wipe all the data.

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I'm working with some U3 flash drives, trying to make a little payload for use on my primary flash drive.

Robert, please learn to read  :P ( I don't know how many times I've done similar stuff, thank god most of it is in pms)

Sorry, no idea why formatting isn't working for you.

Post the batch file maybe?  Is your counter working ok?

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--SNIP

I've tried FORMAT in the batch file

Here you go mate, This will quick format the drive to FAT with the volume label NUKED.

FORMAT %1 /BACKUP /FS:FAT /V:NUKED /Q /X

Obviously replace %1 with your drive letter variable.

Sorry, no idea why formatting isn't working for you.

The FORMAT wasn't working for the obvious reason, it required user input :P

Why not make a batch using the "del" command?

Although it seems simpler, It takes much longer. Neither option will securely delete your data but a quick format is much faster.

Hope that answers everyone, and merry Christmas!

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FORMAT %1 /BACKUP /FS:FAT /V:NUKED /Q /X

Sorry, no idea why formatting isn't working for you.

The FORMAT wasn't working for the obvious reason, it required user input :P

Hope that answers everyone, and merry Christmas!

Would it kill you to think that for some reason i assume people usually know what they're doing and would set switches....  :P

You drunk yet?  :P

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Would it kill you to think that for some reason i assume people usually know what they're doing and would set switches....  :P

You drunk yet?  :P

Probably not, but the /BACKUP switch isn't listed as a switch when you type FORMAT /? and still requires the user to press enter. Using the /BACKUP switch automates the process.

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