[mythtv-users] OT: 3 week old HDD "Clicking" ??

[David Brodbeck]

greg wrote:
> I had a  Seagate drive go bad a few months ago,i had some tax info on 
> the drive..I e-mailed them and asked what happened to a drive when it 
> is returned..
>  They told me the first thing they do is a low level format. If the 
> drive won't spin then the drive is stripped down and the platters are 
> removed to be used in refurbish drives..
>  I destroyed the drive myself.. I don't need my SS# out in public...
Basedo on what I've been told by data recovery companies, I wouldn't 
worry unless you have data you're trying to hide from the NSA. (And they 
have other ways of getting your SSN. ;) )  A low-level format is almost 
certainly going to make the data on the drive unrecoverable by normal 
methods.  (You could always wipe it with DBAN first, to be sure.)  And 
the moment they remove the platters, the data is gone forever -- once 
the registration between the data platters and the servo track is 
disturbed, the data becomes unrecoverable by anything short of an 
electron microscope.