[kwlug-disc] OT - degauss/wipe a dead hard drive/LTO tapes

[Oksana Goertzen]

Probably a good point.  It's a notebook drive, EIDE for an old system I
don't
want to spend too much money on.


On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 1:41 PM, Lori Paniak <ldpaniak at fourpisolutions.com>wrote:

> Call me cavalier, but...
>
> If the drive is from 2006, it will cost more wipe it (or think about
> wiping it!) for RMA than it would cost to go out and buy a new one with
> twice the capacity.
>
> If the data on it is that sensitive, buy yourself a new drive and good
> drill with bit.  After you set up the new drive you can take the old one
> apart and drill as many holes in the platters as it takes to be
> comfortable.  Access to a drill-press?  Even better.  Plus, you'll have
> the tools to safely dispose of any drive in the future!
>
>
> On Mon, 2010-05-03 at 12:36 -0400, Oksana Goertzen wrote:
> > Last time I checked the disk was a brick.  I can put it in the freezer
> > and
> > see if I can get it to boot and try to use DBAN on it.  I had simply
> > written
> > it off and was going to destroy it but I came across the sales slip
> > last night
> > and it's under warranty 'til 2011 and I checked it on the Western
> > Digital site.
> > I have to send the drive to WD in order for them to send me a new one
> > free of charge.  I figured if perhaps I degaussed it with a strong
> > magnet
> > that might be enough.. usually I wipe the drives (DoD style) before
> > discarding
> > them.  I will check with them to see their policies are with regard to
> > old
> > drives.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Oksana
> >
> >
> > On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 11:52 AM, Chris Irwin <chris at chrisirwin.ca>
> > wrote:
> >         On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 10:58, Oksana Goertzen
> >         <ogoertzen at gmail.com> wrote:
> >         > Hello Everyone,
> >         >
> >         > I have a hard drive that can be sent back to the
> >         manufacturer because it's
> >         > still
> >         > under warranty.  The drive is no longer boot-able.  Will
> >         degaussing the
> >         > drive
> >         > wipe it sufficiently?  Does anyone have access to such a
> >         device or a strong
> >         > electric magnet?  I can't run DBAN or destroy the drive
> >         because it needs to
> >         > go back to the manufacturer in good enough condition that
> >         they can determine
> >         > it failed.
> >
> >
> >         Is the drive even detected, or is it just a brick? If it at
> >         least
> >         shows up (but is inaccessible) it might be worth a shot at
> >         poking the
> >         secure-erase functionality built-in to most hard drives
> >         nowdays.
> >
> >         Unfortunately I'm not sure how to activate it (smartctl
> >         doesn't seem
> >         to poke that, at least nothing in the manpage indicates so). I
> >         encrypt
> >         my hard drive for just this reason (I sent a failed drive back
> >         last
> >         year without a worry).
> >
> >         This doesn't help if the drive is really just a big brick. I'd
> >         be
> >         worried about taking any sort of invasive procedures. Will
> >         they look
> >         at the drive and say "It failed 'cause you stuck a big
> >         electromagnet
> >         next to it", even if that was after the fact?
> >
> >         > And on a side note, we have a number (a lot, actually) of
> >         LTO tapes at work
> >         > that should either be destroyed or degaussed.  Does anyone
> >         know anything
> >         > about degaussing tapes?  Can they be recycled at all?
> >
> >
> >         --
> >         Chris Irwin
> >         <chris at chrisirwin.ca>
> >
> >
> >         _______________________________________________
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> >         kwlug-disc_kwlug.org at kwlug.org
> >
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> >
> >
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