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David
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL

David

Premium Member

not able to low level format a drive?

Saw this thread and as someone that uses DBAN on a semi-frequent basis on any drives I get ready to sell, what could possibly dystroy or make the drive unreadable/unuseable after a drive wipe?

»[FS] Western Digital Caviar Blue 250 GB 3.5" 7200 RPM

I have to admit it's the first I ever have heard of that happening.

koitsu
MVM
join:2002-07-16
Mountain View, CA
Humax BGW320-500

1 edit

koitsu

MVM

I call BS on numerous levels.

It's more likely that someone used a disk erasing program that wrote random data across the drive rather than zeros, and the next person who tried to use it saw it had mysterious partitions of incorrect/odd sizes, and concluded the drive "had gone awry".

There is no utility I know of, except for HDAT2, which lets you mess with the HPA region of a disk. And even HDAT2's HPA adjustment feature only works on some models of disks (hardly all). I strongly doubt users are using HDAT2 and "punching random keys" to format a disk.

Furthermore, regarding data recovery on a disk which has had every LBA written to (particularly zeroed) -- not a single data recovery company dared take on this challenge when it was presented to them during the Great Zero Challenge. Be sure to read that page, not skim.

Also, there is no such thing as a "low-level format" aside from on SCSI disks (e.g. PATA and SATA disks do not offer this). A low-level format is not the same thing as writing zeros to all the LBAs on the disk; the latter is what all these erasing utilities do (including DBAN). Keeping it simple: the dd command mentioned in the Great Zero Challenge simply writes data (zeros or random data) to every LBA on the disk.

redxii
Mod
join:2001-02-26
Michigan
Asus RT-AC3100
Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH2

redxii to David

Mod

to David
Maybe it was damaged during shipping. You can't technically low level format a HDD (at home any ways) so you are just zero filling or other filling with another pattern every sector.

I've personally never had any problems partitioning/formatting a disk after zero-filling.

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

aurgathor to David

Member

to David
I regularly wipe my drives (once every couple of years or so) and never had an issue related to wiping. The drive in question may had some other,unrelated issue, however.

Note, hard drives can also be "wiped" (demagnetized, to be exact) using a very strong electromagnet, and that may very well destroy them.

signmeuptoo94
Bless you Howie
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
NanoParticle

signmeuptoo94 to David

Premium Member

to David
Ok, I am confused (easily done, I know), does this mean there is no way to fully clear a disk of information for a person's security?

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

1 recommendation

aurgathor

Member

If the drive if functional, a zero write will clear all personal information.

Kilroy
MVM
join:2002-11-21
Saint Paul, MN

Kilroy to David

MVM

to David
What I would do, if I was the seller, would be to wipe the drive with DBAN then reformat FAT32. If I can do that, then all is good. No one is getting a drive that I stored data on, without a full wipe. Not that I have any important or illegal, but don't need issues.

Per aurgathor See Profile saying that drives can be wiped with a very strong electromagnet, I suggest you give it a try. I tried to use this method to wipe some spare drives. The magnet was powered by a 220v line. You could feel the physical pull when the drive was passed through the field. Drives left in the field for 30 seconds were still able to be read.

This of course does not mean that your important data will not be lost if passed through a strong magnetic field. As we all know the more important the data the more fragile it is.

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

aurgathor

Member

I guess your magnet just wasn't strong enough.

I've read somewhere a while ago that some governemt agencies wipe drives with a magnet strong enough not only to clear the data from the platters, but also to demagnetize the magnets in the motors, as an unintended side effect.

I have not verified these claims, but it should be doable with a strong enough magnetic field.

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix to koitsu

Premium Member

to koitsu
I remember awhile back some IDE drive makers has a low level format tool but it was not known and hard to find and you'd have to find the right one for your drive.

The place i heard about it pretty much said if it needs it just junk the drive.
DarkLogix

DarkLogix to aurgathor

Premium Member

to aurgathor
There are companies that sell degaussers.

But a home brew electro magnet isn't likely to get it done.

I'd see about an AC powered one, IE have a 60Hz flipping magnetic feild instead of a constant one that should induce a current in the drive and hopefully kill it.

signmeuptoo94
Bless you Howie
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
NanoParticle

signmeuptoo94 to David

Premium Member

to David
I've worked with a magnetic device called a Faraday Rotater, I wonder if it is powerful enough to do anything...