[NTLUG:Discuss] Hard drive conundrum - unknown data

[Russ]

>
> A few ideas:
>
> Boot to a Linux Live CD and run dd if=dev/zero of=/dev/hda (or sda or
> whatever).  Now reinstall the OSes.


Thanks Leroy.  That did the trick.  After running the script above
(with the addition of a '/' ahead of the first 'dev'), I ran SpinRite
and during the SpinRite boot I was informed there were remnants of
three (3) illegal partitions.  This message was not present on booting
SpinRite before running the script.

Before doing this I had continued to watch this "blank space" as the
defrag in Windows sees it and watched it continue to grow with use of
the computer.  This curiousity is the reason it has taken me so long
to reply.
--
Russ

"Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
--Mark Twain