Completely removing all data from drive

[maxse]

Good point John, didn't even think of it. Let's hear what others say. So I can just unscrew the drive to take it apart and I'll be able to crack the platters with my fingers? Like a CD? I've never taken a drive apart before. Thanks everyone!

[John_M]

58 minutes ago, maxse said:

I'll be able to crack the platters with my fingers?

 

Not in my experience. I've never found glass platters inside, but highly polished and quite substantial metal platters 3mm or so thick. So, no, you can't break or bend them with your fingers, though you can easily damage them. If I ever do find glass ones inside I won't try breaking them by hand as I'm sure the risk of personal injury would be high. It's quite educational to take a hard drive apart and it gives you an appreciation of how they work. The magnets are very powerful and fun to play with. You'll need a Torx driver or two.

[Frank1940]

2 hours ago, John_M said:

. But if I wasn't I'd just return it as is. In similar circumstances would you actually forego getting a replacement for fear that someone might try to read your secrets? Serious question.

 

 

First thing.  If you are really concerned about keeping data confidential, you should not be returning drives for warranty purposes.  You might be better off buying drives with shorter warranties as they are usually cheaper.  (Don't kid yourself, the longer warranty is more of a marketing tool than a true indicator of superior design, construction and quality control. Plus they usually factor a cost for the additional warranty costs.)

 

You could damage the disk before you return it on a warranty claim.  It has been my experience, that the replacement drive is usually shipped the same day as your drive is received.  If they do any analysis on the failure, it is well after its receipt.  I would think that they actually except that they get a certain number of drives that are actually good.  And, for the sake of good customer relations, they ignore them.  However, if you are doing something nefarious to the disks before return and they detect it, I have no doubt that they are going to flag your name... 

[John_M]

54 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

First thing.  If you are really concerned about keeping data confidential, you should not be returning drives for warranty purposes.  You might be better off buying drives with shorter warranties as they are usually cheaper.  (Don't kid yourself, the longer warranty is more of a marketing tool than a true indicator of superior design, construction and quality control. Plus they usually factor a cost for the additional warranty costs.)

 

That doesn't answer my question. I said what I'd do: if a drive fails within its warranty period I'd return it for a replacement or repair, the same as if it was a TV set or a kettle.

 

1 hour ago, Frank1940 said:

You could damage the disk before you return it on a warranty claim.

 

That would be dishonest and extremely difficult to achieve. The thread has already discussed how difficult it would be to erase or damage the content without opening the enclosure. If you open the enclosure then you have clearly voided the warranty. Even if the replacement is sent out before the return is examined I wouldn't expect it to be on the next occasion. That's the kind of trick you might get away with once (three times, given that there are three manufacturers remaining and assuming that they don't share a common blacklist) and then you're out of options.

[pwm]

6 hours ago, John_M said:

his is an interesting academic discussion but what do you guys do if a disk fails while still under warranty?

 

What warranty? I only return if I got a dead-on-arrival drive. Else I suck up the loss and live with it. But that's also why I have started to encrypt drives directly from day one - if the drive has never stored any unencrypted data then I can send it in without worrying about content.

[JonathanM]

5 hours ago, pwm said:

 

What warranty? I only return if I got a dead-on-arrival drive. Else I suck up the loss and live with it. But that's also why I have started to encrypt drives directly from day one - if the drive has never stored any unencrypted data then I can send it in without worrying about content.

Compared to the cost of a lawsuit or criminal defence trial if confidential information leaked, the cost of a hard drive is nothing. Hardware is cheap, data is almost priceless for some people.

[pwm]

2 minutes ago, jonathanm said:

Compared to the cost of a lawsuit or criminal defence trial if confidential information leaked, the cost of a hard drive is nothing. Hardware is cheap, data is almost priceless for some people.

 

Yes, I can sometimes have NDA documents with very stiff penalty fees if the NDA is broken. If the NDA document mentions USD 500,000 or more then I don't want to have to talk with the insurance company about a pending lawsuit. It's easier to consider all media tainted than trying to keep track of what information that might have been stored on them.