Formatting in Ubuntu

Gparted will rebuild file system, and so broke all files including malware. Gparted offers only one level of formating.

If you don't see it under the system menu then run:

sudo apt-get install gparted

The reason you don't see GParted in the System > Administration menu in an *installed* system (as opposed to a live CD system) -- i.e., the reason it's installed by default on the live CD but not in an installed Ubuntu system -- is that it is a *very* bad idea to edit the partition layout of the physical disk that has an installed and currently running operating system on it. You should boot from the live CD to do this, instead. However, if you want to edit the partition layout of other drives, then it is safe to install and use GParted from within an installed Ubuntu system.

"Is the formatting done by the right-click menu and GParted a full format, meaning it completely wipes the partition and eliminates any malware, etc.?"

That is not the distinction between a "full format" and a "quick format." In the Windows world, a full format is a format that is preceded by a scan of the disk to check for low-level errors (with the ability to "fix" some such errors), and a quick format skips that scan. Either kind of format will get rid of malware, in the sense that it will cause the data on the disk not to be considered associated with any files. Neither kind of format actually erases data permanently--immediately after a format, and even sometimes well after one, data can be recovered from a formatted partition.

GParted never performs such a scan before formatting a partition, though you can do so with the badblocks or fsck utilities.

no, gparted does not do a full format. if it did that, it would take a long time to do. what it does is set up the data structure on your harddrive.

what are you trying to do? completely erase the drive? if so, you can download free utilities from the manufacturers of your drive to do that.

Hi,

Thanks for the answers, but I still need some help.

I am trying to completely erase data from an external hard drive so the data can never be read again even by data recovery experts. Will the formatting done by Gparted or Ubuntu 10.04 do this? If not, how do I completely erase the data?

Thanks!

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15037/use-an-ubuntu-live-cd-to-securely-wipe-your-pcs-hard-drive/