Erase Dead Hard Drive?

[imdaman]

I have 500gb Seagate HD that died on me. Using sata cable, i cant see it at all but i can using usb. I cant see it in My Computer but I can in Computer management. It is not initialized and unallocated and when I try to initialize the disk, it gives me Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

I used the program GetDataBack to search through the sectors for 3 days straight and it is only 16% done. So far nothing is found and I keep getting errors for the sectors.

So is there a way (software) to permanently remove the data without physically damaging the drive so i can get warranty?

[guns1inger]

No. Not if the drive is in that state. Software clears a drive by overwriting the sectors with dummy data. If you can write to the drive, you can't overwrite it. You might be able to scramble it with a large magnet.

[aedipuss]

they're cheap. my preferred method is a sledgehammer. especially helpful for seagate, maxtor and hatachi drives, as you need to use it frequently.

[mrswla]

they're cheap. my preferred method is a sledgehammer. especially helpful for seagate, maxtor and hatachi drives, as you need to use it frequently.

LOL. I'll have to try that approach next time.

Try a large magnet, as guns1inger said.

[the_man_one]

small hammer works just as well.... just hit more often... to ensure full removal use a torch & melt it)

[mrswla]

I think you guys should video some of these and post here.

[hech54]

No. Not if the drive is in that state. Software clears a drive by overwriting the sectors with dummy data. If you can write to the drive, you can't overwrite it. You might be able to scramble it with a large magnet.

I wanna know how that works. Have you ever played with the magnets that are already in a hard drive? Those bastards are WICKED.

[DB83]

You can try a program called Zero Assumption Recovery

http://www.z-a-recovery.com/

This worked for me when one of my drives went awol. But if you have already run some utilities on it - or even tried to format it - then I doubt that even this will work.

[imdaman]

does the freezing method work? if i leave it in there longer, maybe the moisture can destory more of the drive but not visible so i can get the warranty?

[classfour]

Freezing was thought up to get that last bit of data off a drive.

If you want to erase the thing: treat it like a VHS and magnetically wipe the thing.

[roderickluise]

Freezing was thought up to get that last bit of data off a drive.

If you want to erase the thing: treat it like a VHS and magnetically wipe the thing.

it probably work but in my time it not work..and after that, is there any possibilities of storing data in that drive..