Wiping data from a hard drive.

[Ric Moore]

On Wed, 2010-08-25 at 19:51 +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.

I think you might have to use a hammer. If you REALLY wipe the drive
completely clean of all formating, you may have no warranty.

-- 
My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
Linux user# 44256