How Can I Kill an External HD? 1

[VVVA]

Another dev turned in an external HD as bad. He tried copying data to it, & when he hit 100GB it gave him errors and refused to write any more data to the HD. I suspect it is going out, and don't think it's a good idea to use it. If it goes out, it's going to cost us at LEAST $80, which is what the HD costs.

But, it's currently being put back into circulation for uses under 100GB. This strikes me as a bad idea...is there any way I can fry it so it doesn't get put back into circulation?

 

[ArizonaGeek]

For $80 you could probably get a 300 or 400 gig hard drive. If you want to kill the 100 gig, just pull it out of the external case and take a hammer to it. That'll kill it. I think thats what you are asking, right?

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[VVVA]

Uh...no. Preferably in a way that nobody will know I did anything. Afraid a hammer would be a bit obvious. Maybe I should hook it up to 240 volts, I wonder if that'd do it?

 

[Sympology]

I'd love to tel you, but I'll proberbly by the Uk or US secret police, for breaking some stupid law or other.



Break a pin or two off... chances are no one will notice

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[Sympology]

proberbly * by

* be arrested

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[kmcferrin]

You might want to try wiping the disk and then doing a scan of it to see if there are problems. He might have just hit a problem area that just happened to be around the 100GB point in his copy. Before writing it off, I say wipe it, scan it, and then see how much data you can put on it.

 

[wahnula]

Oooo...oooo...oooo...killing a hard drive!!! Easy!!! Just take an old 40 pin ribbon cable and cut off one end, then strip back the wires and connect any wires of your choice to a wall outlet. That should do it. Don't be holding the drive while you're trying this...

You could remove the PCB and take a Dremel, screwriver, bastard file or putty knife to the underside. Screw it back on. Ya might want to test it on an old PC before putting it back in the pool...wait...putting it in a pool, that's another way to go!!!

Seriously, opening it up and breaking off the read head should do it...

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me

 

[ArizonaGeek]

Actually if you didn't want to be too obvious, just take the hard drive out, smack it flat against the floor a few times. That'll kill it. S'how I got a new PC at my last job. They kept reinstalling the OS for me when I kept having problems, I knew the PC was junk, finally I had enough. Couple of hard smacks on a carpeted floor, no one was the wiser.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[ArizonaGeek]

A rare earth magnet would kill it as well. Just buy one for around $20 on Ebay or do a Google search for them. While the hard drive is running, stick the magnet on top of it. That'll kill it as well. Plus the magnets are a fun toy to have around.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[LawnBoy]

I'm with ArizonaGeek, a couple of hundred G's hitting the concrete a few time should do the trick.


"We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[cjelec]

What an odd and funny thread,

As most people have suggested, banging it...

Another option if you have a spare pc, connect it to the pc, get the pc to format it, shake the hdd whilst its being formatted, don't stop until you get for I/O errors... It should chip the disks inside without showing any outside damage...

 

[wahnula]

What an odd and funny thread

Yeah, we usually talk about fixing stuff, not breaking it. Odds are that if you WANT it to break, it will have a fortitude of steel and defy your attempts time after time, just to annoy you

Just your luck you will think you have killed it only to have it resurface like a zombie in a bad horror movie...

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me

 

[BadBigBen]

Yep, just like a coworker of mine, studied computer science with a bachlor degree, brought in a HDD said it was shot...

took a look at it, hit it with DBAN and guess what, it works...

it is now jugging along in my external enclosure as a back up...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[acewarlock]

I have found over the last 20 years, that most of the hard drives people have told me they were bad. after doing what was called a low level format really a MBR repair,new partition, Format and OS install, they worked fine. back then Hard drives were a $100 a Meg so a repair was preferred to thoughing it out.




This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[Nelviticus]

You could put it somewhere near my work PC, which seems to generate its own "if it can go wrong it will" field. That would definitely kill it.

Nelviticus

 

[Sympology]

Ooo Ooo Ooo. Put windows ME on it, that'll break it....

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[Sympology]

Or put it about 2 miles from a nuclear explosion....


or the classic...

Drive, what drive?

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[DTracy]

Ok, you didn't say how big the drive was initially. If it is a 100GB drive and it dies at 100GB then I would think that the problem and solution is quite obvious.

Regards,
David.

P.S. I'll vote for the hammer approach, very cost effective.

 

[wahnula]

Ooo Ooo Ooo. Put windows ME on it, that'll break it....

Ladies and gentlemen, we have our winner.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me