Wiping data from a hard drive.

[Duncan Bain]

________________________________________
From: ubuntu-users-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com [ubuntu-users-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com] on behalf of Basil Chupin [blchupin at iinet.net.au]
Sent: 25 August 2010 10:51
To: Ubuntu user technical support,      not for general discussions
Subject: Wiping data from a hard drive.

A few days ago I 'lost an HD which is 11 months old - and it still has 4
years of warranty remaining.

However, the HD contains personal information which means that I will
simply put the sledge hammer to it - unless I can wipe the HD clean
before I take it back for replacement.

Since the HD doesn't spin-up, I cannot use the normal data destroying
programs to wipe the data.

When we were still using 3 1/4 and 5 1/2 inch floppies I had a powerful
magnet thingie which would wipe a floppy clean (but I don't have that
'thingie' anymore, in anycase it would probably be too weak for a 500GB HD).

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how I can wipe the data off
the HD?

Would taking it to a wrecker's yard and putting it under the magnet they
use to lift car bodies do the trick, for example?

Thanks for any advice.

BC

--
Gumperson's Law: The probability of anything happening is in
inverse proportion to its desirability.



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I'm afraid I can't offer you any help on deleting the data on the disk, but I'd advise against using strong magnets as these could damage the mechanical parts of the disk, thus rendering it unusable (usually the desired affect) and also ruining the remaining warranty.