Wiping data from a hard drive.

[Basil Chupin]

On 25/08/2010 23:29, Frans Ketelaars wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 19:51:27 +1000, Basil Chupin wrote:
>
>    
>> 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
>>      
> http://serverfault.com/questions/74716/how-can-i-destroy-data-on-a-failed-hard-disk-without-voiding-warranty
>
> "Just explain to your vendor that the disk failed but that you cannot
> return it due to sensitive data. Many vendors, especially vendors with
> business customers, will accept that without asking.
>
> If they don't, offer a signed, written statement declaring that the disk
> failed. If that still doesn't satisfy them, write off the loss and
> consider buying the next disk from a vendor with a sensible warranty
> policy."
>
> Good luck!
>
>      -Frans
>    


Many thanks for this. The discussion on that URL was most enlightening.

Weighing up all the pros and cons, while I absolutely nowadays hate 
wasting anything and particularly "throwing away" something which is 
still under warranty, writing off AUD110 is much more acceptable than 
going thru the process of trying to wipe off the data and having the HD 
replaced especially when it is not certain that all the data will get 
wiped or if the HD will be replaced because the "warranty was voided". 
The risk is too great: writing off $AU110 is better than playing Russian 
roulette with potentially many thousands of dollars :-) .

The sledgehammer is the way to go...... :-) .

Again, thanks for your post.

BC

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