Seagate 4tb Backup Plus - NAS ST4000DX000 XT Drive Internal - Costco $159.99+Tax (YMMV)

Quote from m6284505 : ROFL. Are you saying there are people out there who just buy refurb drives for the task of trying to recover some persons data for identity theft or to steal data?

What I'm saying is that once your drive is returned, you have no idea who's refurbishing it. It could be a 3rd party that's sub-contracted, a temp worker, or they could be donated to tech schools for repair projects. The first inclination would probably be to see if there's anything recoverable on the drive.

Quote from edplayer : You wasted your life...

I suggest you both read this column. It was written 5 years ago and still holds true.


http://brainstormsandraves.com/ar...arddrives/


There's some very good examples regarding the return of defective computers. One part of the article concerns defective drives:

Quote : The hard drive manufacturer or the store from where you purchased the drive must absolutely ensure your data’s safety and security. The stories I’ve read in my research show that this doesn’t always happen, though, unbeknownst to us consumers.

If you're going to return it can't you just write the whole thing with zeroes? Do it twice if you're paranoid, there's no way anyone is recovering anything significant after that.

Quote from jordankw : If you're going to return it can't you just write the whole thing with zeroes? Do it twice if you're paranoid, there's no way anyone is recovering anything significant after that.

Yes, there is.

DBAN. This thread is ridiculous.

Quote from jordankw : If you're going to return it can't you just write the whole thing with zeroes? Do it twice if you're paranoid, there's no way anyone is recovering anything significant after that.

Quote from tixetsal : DBAN. This thread is ridiculous.

How are you going to overwrite a drive with DBAN or anything else if the drive has crashed and can't be detected by an OS?

Your comment that this thread is ridiculous is absurd. What I think is ridiculous is how people constantly compare warranties on hard drives in any thread. Read the article linked in my last comment. My feeling is that the same goes for Iphones, Androids, netbooks and tablets.. If these things crash, you have to think long and hard about returning them if you know you have personal information on them.

This article explains why DBAN may not be sufficient and recommends other free alternatives:

http://techlogon.com/2012/07/07/s...ufficient/

Degauss. This thread is still ridiculous.

Nevermind.

I would hope a stranger that acquires family photos of mine from a returned hard drive uses the material to diddle themselves in the dark while listening to the bruce willis album.

centrifuge the hdd in a bucket full of bucky balls, flip it over, repeat process. tada!