Should I return my failed harddrive?

[Avatar of Justice]

I bought a 1TB external drive from newegg.com as a backup drive and as a drive to transfer data back and forth between computers. However, it failed after a few days. Unfortunately, it failed AFTER I had copied every single piece of data I've ever had/created on to it. My question is, does anyone know what will happen to the drive when I return it? I don't really like the thought of it being refurbished and suddenly all my data is mailed off to a total stranger. Should I just try contacting the manufactuer (Western Digital) directly? Maybe they have better procedures for this kind of thing?

[Moseph]

I would assume that they'd format it as part of a refurbishing process.

EDIT: Or by "total stranger," do you mean whoever does the refurbishing and not the subsequent purchaser?

[Halt]

RMA that bitch and purchase a new one. There should be a 30-day return policy.

[Nabeel Ansari]

EDIT: Or by "total stranger," do you mean whoever does the refurbishing and not the subsequent purchaser?

I think he means he's afraid the drive is going to be refurbished and then sold to another guy who's buying said refurbished drive and that guy who bought said refurbished drive is going to access all the data that he copied on there because it was refurbished.

(notice anything odd here?)

I would assume that they'd format it as part of a refurbishing process.

lolz

[Avatar of Justice]

I would assume that they'd format it as part of a refurbishing process.

EDIT: Or by "total stranger," do you mean whoever does the refurbishing and not the subsequent purchaser?

I'm worried more about the subsequent purchaser.

[Fishy]

Don't want to scare you but there's always some latent magnetism left in all magnetic storage devices even if you format. It might not be able to read itself but a particularly dodgy specialist can find something that can read it. The only way to be 100% sure is to put a nail through it.

Alternatively you could juts write it full of garbage and format it a few times, that should mess it up enough.

[Flik]

If the drive is still functional enough to read/write, then running a utility like DBAN on it will completely ruin any and all traces of data on there. Trust me, there won't be a damn thing left to even attempt recovering.

That being said, you bought a drive, it failed. Return it and get another. If it is truly sensitive data that you absolutely can not have leave the premises and the drive is non-responsive, then suck up the loss, destroy the drive, and buy another.

[prophetik music]

if the drive is nonfunctional, wrap it in plastic, wrap it again in plastic, and stick it in the freezer for a few hours. unwrap it, ensure that there's no condensation on it, and i'll bet it'll function long enough to use DBAN or something similar on it.

alternatively, hard drives that are toast make really cool fridge magnets, purse mirrors, and speakers =)