I have a new HDD arriving Monday under warranty and must give the old
corrupt drive to the courier in exchange.
The old drive does fire up into windows after about 6 hours and it is
possible to access some of my business data, letters, invoices, banking etc.
What do they do with these drives and can I assume the data to be safe in
their hands.
At times, when trying to access files, it tells me the C drive is not
formatted and would I like to format it. Though I have refrained from doing
anything to date I just might give it a try as Monday gets closer. Or will
it just not do it.
> I have a new HDD arriving Monday under warranty and must give the old
> corrupt drive to the courier in exchange.
>
> The old drive does fire up into windows after about 6 hours and it is
> possible to access some of my business data, letters, invoices, banking etc.
>
> What do they do with these drives and can I assume the data to be safe in
> their hands.
>
> At times, when trying to access files, it tells me the C drive is not
> formatted and would I like to format it. Though I have refrained from doing
> anything to date I just might give it a try as Monday gets closer. Or will
> it just not do it.
>
> dj
>
Why don't you call the business to which the hard drive is being
returned what is its policy on privacy?
Any reputable company has policies that prohibit taking data from a customers hard drive, but you can't depend on the employees always adhering to that policy.
The minimum you should do is format the drive. That will not erase the data but will prevent easy access to it. To completely remove the data you will have to do a low level format or use a utility designed the wipe the drive clean.
tpow wrote:
>
> I have a new HDD arriving Monday under warranty and must give the old
> corrupt drive to the courier in exchange.
>
> The old drive does fire up into windows after about 6 hours and it is
> possible to access some of my business data, letters, invoices, banking etc.
>
> What do they do with these drives and can I assume the data to be safe in
> their hands.
>
> At times, when trying to access files, it tells me the C drive is not
> formatted and would I like to format it. Though I have refrained from doing
> anything to date I just might give it a try as Monday gets closer. Or will
> it just not do it.
>
> dj
tpow wrote:
> I have a new HDD arriving Monday under warranty and must give the old
> corrupt drive to the courier in exchange.
>
> The old drive does fire up into windows after about 6 hours and it is
> possible to access some of my business data, letters, invoices, banking etc.
>
> What do they do with these drives and can I assume the data to be safe in
> their hands.
>
> At times, when trying to access files, it tells me the C drive is not
> formatted and would I like to format it. Though I have refrained from doing
> anything to date I just might give it a try as Monday gets closer. Or will
> it just not do it.
>
> dj
>
> I have a new HDD arriving Monday under warranty and must give the old
> corrupt drive to the courier in exchange.
>
> The old drive does fire up into windows after about 6 hours and it is
> possible to access some of my business data, letters, invoices, banking
> etc.
>
> What do they do with these drives and can I assume the data to be safe in
> their hands.
>
> At times, when trying to access files, it tells me the C drive is not
> formatted and would I like to format it. Though I have refrained from
> doing anything to date I just might give it a try as Monday gets closer.
> Or will it just not do it.
>
> dj
is there any thing on the drive that is important enough that you don't want
any one to see? if not there is nothing to worry about!!!
"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message news:g5qbnu$3ia$1@aioe.org...
> tpow wrote:
>> I have a new HDD arriving Monday under warranty and must give the old
>> corrupt drive to the courier in exchange.
>>
>> The old drive does fire up into windows after about 6 hours and it is
>> possible to access some of my business data, letters, invoices, banking
>> etc.
>>
>> What do they do with these drives and can I assume the data to be safe in
>> their hands.
>>
>> At times, when trying to access files, it tells me the C drive is not
>> formatted and would I like to format it. Though I have refrained from
>> doing
>> anything to date I just might give it a try as Monday gets closer. Or
>> will
>> it just not do it.
>>
>> dj
>>
>
> IDE drives have a feature for erasure.
>
> http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=129
>
> http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml
>
> Paul
>
I ran Secure Erase but it stops just after it has recognised the
drive.......
Wipe everything you can then remove the partition as well then make a new
one then reformat.
"darklight" <nglenngeln@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:oP-dnbcsyulsTB3VnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
> tpow wrote:
>
>> I have a new HDD arriving Monday under warranty and must give the old
>> corrupt drive to the courier in exchange.
>>
>> The old drive does fire up into windows after about 6 hours and it is
>> possible to access some of my business data, letters, invoices, banking
>> etc.
>>
>> What do they do with these drives and can I assume the data to be safe in
>> their hands.
>>
>> At times, when trying to access files, it tells me the C drive is not
>> formatted and would I like to format it. Though I have refrained from
>> doing anything to date I just might give it a try as Monday gets closer.
>> Or will it just not do it.
>>
>> dj
>
> is there any thing on the drive that is important enough that you don't
> want
> any one to see? if not there is nothing to worry about!!!
"John McCallum" <delf20k@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:48815829$1@dnews.tpgi.com.au...
> Wipe everything you can then remove the partition as well then make a new
> one then reformat.
> "darklight" <nglenngeln@netscape.net> wrote in message
> news:oP-dnbcsyulsTB3VnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
>> tpow wrote:
>>
>>> I have a new HDD arriving Monday under warranty and must give the old
>>> corrupt drive to the courier in exchange.
>>>
>>> The old drive does fire up into windows after about 6 hours and it is
>>> possible to access some of my business data, letters, invoices, banking
>>> etc.
>>>
>>> What do they do with these drives and can I assume the data to be safe
>>> in
>>> their hands.
>>>
>>> At times, when trying to access files, it tells me the C drive is not
>>> formatted and would I like to format it. Though I have refrained from
>>> doing anything to date I just might give it a try as Monday gets closer.
>>> Or will it just not do it.
>>>
>>> dj
>>
>> is there any thing on the drive that is important enough that you don't
>> want
>> any one to see? if not there is nothing to worry about!!!
>
>
>
John McCallum wrote:
>
> Wipe everything you can then remove the partition as well then
> make a new one then reformat.
Please do not top-post. You have lost the problem. Your answer
belongs after (or intermixed with) the quoted material to which you
reply, after snipping all irrelevant material. See the following
links:
"CBFalconer" <cbfalconer@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:48819802.3A371724@yahoo.com...
> John McCallum wrote:
>>
>> Wipe everything you can then remove the partition as well then
>> make a new one then reformat.
>
> Please do not top-post. You have lost the problem. Your answer
> belongs after (or intermixed with) the quoted material to which you
> reply, after snipping all irrelevant material. See the following
> links:
>
> <http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html>
> <http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html>
> <http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html>
> <http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/> (taming google)
> <http://members.fortunecity.com/nnqweb/> (newusers)
>
> --
> [mail]: Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net)
> [page]: <http://cbfalconer.home.att.net>
> Try the download section.
>
>
Sorry I normaly post in groups that put new messages at the top.
In article <NfidnZDkaPQrsx3VnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com>,
"tpow" <wd40@btinternet.com> writes:
> I have a new HDD arriving Monday under warranty and must give the old
> corrupt drive to the courier in exchange.
>
> The old drive does fire up into windows after about 6 hours and it is
> possible to access some of my business data, letters, invoices, banking etc.
>
> What do they do with these drives and can I assume the data to be safe in
> their hands.
I wouldn't trust that it doesn't end up on a market stall
in Nigeria, like lots of old computers do. Let's face it,
no one is going to bother trying to repair it. They only
want it back because they don't trust you.
> At times, when trying to access files, it tells me the C drive is not
> formatted and would I like to format it. Though I have refrained from doing
> anything to date I just might give it a try as Monday gets closer. Or will
> it just not do it.
If you have an old tape bulk eraser, I would try that.
If it manages to erase, it will destroy the drive (won't be
able to format it again -- only the manufacturer could).
However, you actually need a very strong magnetic field
to erase modern disks, and an old bulk take eraser may
not be enough.
--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]
>In article <NfidnZDkaPQrsx3VnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com>,
> "tpow" <wd40@btinternet.com> writes:
>> I have a new HDD arriving Monday under warranty and must give the old
>> corrupt drive to the courier in exchange.
>>
>> The old drive does fire up into windows after about 6 hours and it is
>> possible to access some of my business data, letters, invoices, banking etc.
>>
>> What do they do with these drives and can I assume the data to be safe in
>> their hands.
>
>I wouldn't trust that it doesn't end up on a market stall
>in Nigeria, like lots of old computers do. Let's face it,
>no one is going to bother trying to repair it. They only
>want it back because they don't trust you.
It's not all that uncommon for people to receive a
refurbished drive under warranty replacement. They do want
the drive and odds are fair they'll repair it if they deem
it feasible to do so.
>
>> At times, when trying to access files, it tells me the C drive is not
>> formatted and would I like to format it. Though I have refrained from doing
>> anything to date I just might give it a try as Monday gets closer. Or will
>> it just not do it.
>
>If you have an old tape bulk eraser, I would try that.
>If it manages to erase, it will destroy the drive (won't be
>able to format it again -- only the manufacturer could).
>However, you actually need a very strong magnetic field
>to erase modern disks, and an old bulk take eraser may
>not be enough.
New HDD 
Linear Mode
