erase my hard drive

[untalmau]

Hi... i have a big problem here.
I have a HD with very importan information, But my computer does not detect this HD, because the HD makes a sound , a rare sound, clik clik clik....

If I lose that information does not matter, but if somebody sight that information is a great problem for the company where work.

I have the guarantee of the hard disk, and they are going it to repair, but I do not want that nobody knows that information.

I do not want that those that repair the disc to me know that valuable information of the company.

then...
My question is:

How can I erase for ever that info?
with big magnet ?
Can I put the disc in the water, and soon dry it not to lose the guarantee?
another idea ?
PLEASE i NEED YOUR HELP.
THANSK A LOT.

 

[micker377]

Unless you have access to a commercial electro-magnet to erase it, no. If it won't physically read, you are probably safe (they won't be able to read it). If you are that worried, the only solution is to drill holes in it and destroy the drive, voiding the warranty. Remember, hard drives are designed to protect the data from magnatic disturbances.

 

[untalmau]

thanks....
wich one is a comercial magnet ?
is there another form to erase it ?
I dont want to voiding the warranty.

 

[untalmau]

and I have here a big magnet... a big speaker magnet, 10 inches diameter magnet, will work to erase and NOT voiding the warranty <?
thanks

 

[Frank4d]

A magnet may or may not completely erase the drive, and will not work at all unless you open the drive. How can you be sure? I recommend you run Eraser

http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/

or DBAN

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

on it.

 

[Freestone]

except Frank, he says "my computer does not detect this HD, because the HD makes a sound , a rare sound, clik clik clik.... " never a good sound

 

[untalmau]

I have the information duplicated of the hard disk, manages to copy it before went to ruin. My desire is that when sends it to guarantee they cannot acces my information. Single desire to erase it or to ruin, but Remembering that the computer does not recognize it.

I have to erase outside CPU.

thanks a lot for your help brothers.

 

[Frank4d]

Drill a couple of 1/4" holes all the way through the drive. It won't stop the FBI or CIA but will stop just about anyone else.

 

[Frank4d]

Sorry, I didn't see the part where you said you wish to repair it. Seriously, drive manufacturers aren't interested in prying information off of your hard drive, they are just going to repair it. Unless the drive contains data that is so sensitive that no one can see it, or anything national defense related, I would just send it in as is.

 

[firewolfrl]

LOL, the harddrive is thrashing with its armature in its park position. this is a common failure and is usually related to damage on one of the Platters(a grain of dust can do it) in the drive. when the drive manufacture receives the damaged drive thru a RMA they test the drive to see if it is working. if it is thrashing as you described then the drive will be either taken apart to reuse some to the parts that are good (remanufacture)(the platters are ground up as they are not reusible) or they are crunched up for precious metal recycle. most people don't realize a good portion of the drives that are RMA'd are perfectly good drives that have a software issue that the owner did not understand how to fix. (no wonder drives can get to be so damn expensive at times). these drives are wiped,I have never heard of any corporate espionage from RMAing a harddrive.
the shear volume of RMA drives going to a RMA LAB is just absolutly amazing. I had a chance to see this first hand on a tour of an RMA lab. by midmorning they had processed over 2,000 drives

 

[attrofy]

One thing to consider, is the price of RMAing a drive more cost effective then the potential risk of exposing your companies data? If you have info that is necassary to keep that guarded, is it worth the $150 to replace a HDD to keep your companies info secret? In my mind, it is a negligible cost if the info is that valuable. If it is that important, I would physically destroy the drive, drill the holes, disassemble the drive, physically destroy the platters, burn, compact, break whatever is necassary, and throw the rest away.

If they aren't that big of a deal, I would take firewolfrl's suggestion and just RMA it.

 

[PRPhx]

The data that untalmau needs to protect may not be that valuable, but may be that sensitive (i.e customer names, cc numbers, etc).

I used to work for a state agency and was part of the IT department. I thought we had reformatted all of our agency's pc's after recieving new ones and in recycling the old. Needless to say, a bunch got out from a department. Drives ended up in a used computer store. The media found several that contained ppl's names, address and worst of all, SSN's. Fortunetly we got all the drives bad and I made sure nothing remained on them. It could have been really bad. So I under stand untalmau's concerns.