shreading a dead hdd1

[thegreatorangepeel]

So I just had a 120GB Maxtor (!?!?) hard drive die on me and I'd like to shread it before I RMA it. So my question is, how might this be possible?

what I'm thinking is somthing like
`dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/hdd1 bs=1024`

but I somehow doubt (and this is just a wild hunch here :rolleyes: ) this is going to work when there is no I/O for the drive. I've tried the 'ol un-recommended good thump on the countertop. No dice there.

since the drive is dead, I'm open to any ideas (short of a giant electromagnet) on how to write to the drive.

It was the systemroot NTFS partition on my WinXP box and I'm sure that windows saved all sorts of crap to that drive that I wouldn't especially want on there if Maxtor decides to refurbish it.

[bwkaz]

Uhh, you'd want if=/dev/zero, not if=/dev/null. Reads from /dev/null always return end-of-file. ;)

It might help to use dd's conv=sync,noerror option, but that may not help either (IIRC, that's mainly for read errors, so it may not ignore write errors).

Or, you could always use the large electromagnet. :p (Actually, that would probably go a long way towards guaranteeing that Maxtor won't refurbish it either -- a magnet will destroy the low-level-format data, containing geometry info and other crucial pieces of information, that's stored right on the drive nowadays. They'd have to plug the platters back into their own low level formatter to get that data written back onto them, and at that point it may cost more to repair it than they'd get back reselling it.)

[thegreatorangepeel]

/dev/zero not /dev/null. right. I deserve a dope slap for that one. or perhaps a scathing quip from /dev/random.

the funny thing is, I've even made that mistake before when I had to create a test file of exactly x bytes. I had to `cat /dev/null` before I figured out my mistake.

Here is the (rather long winded) deal with the electro magnet:
using their regular RMA system, I box up the drive in the original packaging and they send me a new one. If I fail to properly pack the drive, they don't send me a new one.

using their 'Advanced' RMA, I give them my credit card number and they send me a new drive free of charge UNLESS I fail to send back the damaged drive or improperly pack the damaged drive.

Since I've had this drive for nearly a year (march 04) I don't exactly have the original packaging and local hardware dealers are less than forthcoming with such things. This foces me to use the packaging that the new drive will come in. Which means they have my credit card number, which means I don't want to risk doing anything to the drive that might void the warranty as I would REALLY like to have the money to get myself established in the Chicago area.

[endoalpha]

odd....
Last night my new (20 days old) Maxtor 250G literally screeched to a grinding halt. I have gotten confirmation that maxtor is sandeing me a new one (while holding my credit card info). I asked if it was OK to use their shipping box to ship the defective drive back. The lady said sure thing...
By the way, the bios wont recognize my harddrive, even tho it trys for quite a while. I have no way other that a magnet to destroy the contents of the drive.

I hate the sound of a dying harddrive...

[bwkaz]

Have either of you tried freezing the drive? I've heard somewhere that that sometimes helps. You'd want to make absolutely sure it didn't get any water in it from the freezer, though... maybe put it in a sealed bag before you put it in the freezer.

FWIW, I've had minor issues with every consumer IDE hard drive I've had, except this 160G Seagate (though I've only had it for a few weeks so far). That includes Maxtor, Western Digital, and some other brand of 8.6G drive that Gateway put into a few of our machines at work about four years ago. I've heard stories about IBM Deskstar (AKA Death Star) drives giving the click-of-death, too.

I assume SCSI would be much better quality, but the problem is that it's so much more expensive. You get what you pay for, but it's still quite a bit more.

[thegreatorangepeel]

I, too, have heard that freezing a storage device can erase/damage it, but it's always been in reference to CF and simular types of memory. However. I don't think that guy knew jack about what he was talking about.

I think I'll just add here, that I've left a laptop out in the trunk over night in sub zero Montana weather without trouble. (That sucker was nice a speedy for a bit after that!)

I put a couple of different drives in my machine as a temporary solution. First was a OLD WesternDigital Caviar 1.1Gig drive. That died (or may have already been dead. I'm really not sure.) and a Seagate 2Gig drive that was working fine (SuSE 9.2 Pro) unltil I tried to boot up this morning, so I think the dead drive is symptomatic of a larger problem.

(I'll abriviate the story a bit) I got a hunch that my rather new Power Supply wasn't putting out enough voltage on a couple of lines, but my volt meter seems to think all is fine.

I never heard the desparate sound of a crash or a plate slap. They spin up, the HDD LED stays lit with a bit of flicker the 2G Seagate isn't found by the BIOS and the 120G Maxtor is. I put the Maxtor drive in another computer, it was also detected but, again, had no I/O. I'm going to try the Seagate and the WD in the second machine again.

Asus A7N8X Deluxe mobo.

I'm VERY DESPARATELY open to ideas of where to look next because I've been (Yesterday!) freelanced for a couple of projects by a family friend and I need to be able to start.

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by thegreatorangepeel
I, too, have heard that freezing a storage device can erase/damage it, No, that's not what I meant. ;)

Freezing broken drives sometimes allows them to be spun up and used by the OS. If you can get it to that point, you can erase it through the OS tools.

I think I'll just add here, that I've left a laptop out in the trunk over night in sub zero Montana weather without trouble. (That sucker was nice a speedy for a bit after that!) Right. Freezing it helps, it doesn't break it.

(Unless, of course, you get frost inside the drive -- then when the drive warms back up inside your case, you can kiss the electronics goodbye. That's why I'd make sure the humidity is low when you put the drive in a ziploc bag (or equivalent), and then seal it before you put it into the freezer.)

(I'll abriviate the story a bit) I got a hunch that my rather new Power Supply wasn't putting out enough voltage on a couple of lines, but my volt meter seems to think all is fine. It's not just volts that you need to worry about (and actually, IIRC, measuring the voltages isn't necessarily even an accurate way of measuring how close to the limit you are). If you're sinking more current that the PSU can provide in the system, the voltages will drop a bit, but it may not be noticeable if you aren't that far over the maximum rating. (The measured voltage will depend on the current being sunk and the total resistance: Classic Ohm's Law stuff.)

[thegreatorangepeel]

Freezing the drive. Cool. I'll have to try that when I get out of IL. It's a trick I haven't heard of...

The only reason why I checked voltage is because another computer with a utility and the same PS gave me a false alarm in regards to voltage. I had a bunch of V=I*R stuff in Highschool and college. Granted I've forgotten most of it.

[soulestream]

FYI

freezing drives is used when you have a head crash. freezing the drive(in a zip-lock bag) allows the metal(if its a metal platter) to slightly shrink and can free the head or allow it to get around the bad spot. it will usually recrash when the drive warms up.its good for o-sh** data recovery, but not usually a "fix"



soule

[madcompnerd]

I think if you freeze it and it does damage it, they may send you a letter back a lil somethin like this:
"We think your hard disk was broken when you freezed it, we will be billing you for the replacement we sent.
If you did this intentionally to erase data you're a psycho paranoid wierdo who should prolly take the money loss if he really has that sensitive of data.
Thank you for your paranoid business,
CEO Jeff
P.S.- Psycho."

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block-device

Do it 50 times if you're really really paranoid.

[bsm2001]

I'll have to try that when I get out of IL

If your there then put the puter outside over night and then run it outside should have no problems with HEAT now.:D