Elizle Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 I have a 1.5TB hard drive that is clicking badly. It will boot halfway into Windows Home Server and then start clicking and my computer will reset back to the bios and then it won't be able to detect the drive until I completely turn the computer off again and turn it back on. I have the drive in the freezer right now. I put it in for a little while and got it to boot into the OS before it crashed again. I am going to just keep putting it back into the freezer and restoring as much data off of the hard drive as possible. Once I am done doing that I plan on sending it to Seagate. What would you guys recommend doing to destroy the data on it before I send it in. I has my whole family's backups on it and I am just paranoid about stuff like this. Should I just run HDDKill on it and then run DBAN as long as I can then put it back in the freezer and repeat? Any suggestions would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 If you can spin it up, do so and bash it on something padded (to protect the case from marks). Hopefully the drive heads will scratch the platters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 ebay it as "untested" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Seagate will replace most drives that are 3 or less years old. I'd recommend you buy another one along with the replacement and RAID1 them. Running any data removal tool is difficult when the OS can't access the disk. I would imagine Seagate will just try it and go "yep, it's broke" then put the disk in the pile of disks labeled "To have parts recycled". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Sierakowski Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Keep in mind, if it was easy to access the data on the disk, you wouldn't be RMAing it. Id say aside from physically disrupting the disks, you're probably very safe, as a malfunctioning drive is unlikely to yield data. Unless Seagate wants to spend several thousand dollars sending it off to a clean room to remove the platters and read them one by one, I think you're in good shape. One thing you can try is if you can get the EXACT same logic board on that HDD, you can replace it. Requires a star bit most of the times, but I've had a pretty good amount of success in "clicky" type failures by replacing the board. If you're interested in that and are having issues, remove the board and take pictures of both sides, we can ID what numbers are important and see if you cant find a replacement on ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 A clicking drive can be a few things, but one of those things can be a damaged servo track which would not be fixed by swapping the logic board. If you are concerned about your data falling into the wrong hands, concerned enough to want to blank the drive, concerned enough to make a forum post about it, then put a dollar figure on the data. Enough for a new drive. Then just buy the drive and dont RMA the faulty one, take the hit on the cost. If it's not work the two hundred bucks to remove the risk of a seagate employee accessing your data then dont worry about erasing it in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizle Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 I'll probably HDDKill it, that takes like 30 seconds. Then see how many passes Boot and Nuke can go. I think if the hard drive wasn't trying to load an OS it would work a bit longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Sierakowski Posted July 4, 2009 Share Posted July 4, 2009 A clicking drive can be a few things, but one of those things can be a damaged servo track which would not be fixed by swapping the logic board. Agree totally, however when you get to the clicky drive point, you very quickly reach the point of no return. Out of all the data recovery things I've done in that situation, replacing the logic board has the highest chance of getting your data back. That situation being: seemingly random failure, HDD has not been unplugged, moved, or dropped recently. But, again, I totally agree, when your HDD is clicking, there are a ton of different things that can be wrong, and a lot of them cant be fixed by ANY method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Stress Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 After all the data is backed up and your going to get the drive replaced anyway, won't a very powerfull magnet render the disk pretty much useless even if seagate was trying to do any recovery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 After all the data is backed up and your going to get the drive replaced anyway, won't a very powerfull magnet render the disk pretty much useless even if seagate was trying to do any recovery? I've run degaussers on running drives and not removed the data. Maybe if you had one of those junk yard magnets they use to move cars... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Using a magnet to remove data (i.e. irreparably damage the magnet polarity of the disk platter) ... voids the warranty. Will Seagate go that far in testing? May be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 It is highly unlikely that anyone can erase a modern hard drive by waving any standard magnet on it. The strength of permanent magnet required for this would be very dangerous to use and most people dont have access to an electro magnet suitable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr0p Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Seagate doesn't give a crap about you or your data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizle Posted July 8, 2009 Author Share Posted July 8, 2009 The way it looks, I'm not getting anything off of it. Gonna put it back in a freezer overnight and then say screw it after that. I guess everything on there I got from torrents really or cds that I ripped. The CDs are right next to me and I think my mp3s are backed up on my hackintosh. As for the torrents better hit up TPB before it gets shut down. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 The way it looks, I'm not getting anything off of it. Gonna put it back in a freezer overnight and then say screw it after that. I guess everything on there I got from torrents really or cds that I ripped. The CDs are right next to me and I think my mp3s are backed up on my hackintosh. As for the torrents better hit up TPB before it gets shut down. Oh well. If it's clicking, putting it in the freezer really isn't going to help. The freezer trick is for worn out bearings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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