On Nov 10, 2011, at 11:12 PM, Mark C wrote: > Thanks, Paul - I don't know how long it would take to reformat a 3 TB drive, > but I think it would exceed the time for which the drive is active. I was > thinking of using Darik's Boot N Nuke on it, but it would not be on line long > enough to be wiped. I guess the quesiton becomes - if the data isn't obvious > is it OK to send off... >
I would say yes. A basic format that just erases the directory shouldn't take long. And I doubt that the techs at the repair facility have the time or curiosity to retrieve data. They probably see hundreds of drives every day. Paul > Mark > > On 11/10/2011 10:34 PM, Paul Stenquist wrote: >> I wouldn't send the drive off. I'd copy it off to a new one. Then I'd just >> reformat the bad drive and send it off. I think drives larger than 1 TB are >> prone to problems. But I'm not an IT guy. Others here can answer more >> knowledgeably. >> >> Best, >> Paul >> On Nov 10, 2011, at 10:06 PM, Mark C wrote: >> >>> I recently commented that one of my 3TB external drives went bad - >>> apparently it is the housing only, since the drive will run fine for about >>> 10 minutes and the just disappear from the computer. After it is unplugged >>> and off for a while, it works fine again (for another 10 minutes or so.) I >>> have two backups of the drive - one is a few months old and is offsite, the >>> other is a local copy. WHen I realized the my other 3TB drive had the >>> *only* copy of several hundred images I got worried and bought another >>> drive. It took almost 2 days via USB 2 but I now have two local copies >>> again.... >>> >>> OK - the paranoia part: Turns out that the drive that has crapped out is >>> under warranty still. Yea! So I have to send it into Western Digital. I >>> can't wipe the drive (it would take a lot longer than 10 minutes to wipe a >>> 3TB drive) and I am hesitating about sending off a functional drive (albeit >>> in a bad enclosure) with virtually every photo I have taken in the last 10 >>> years on it (all 122,000 of them). We have everyting from 35mm film scans, >>> MF scans, and every image form a digital camera since my first 3.3mp >>> Coolpix. All my snowflakes, all the stuff that is in my book, full layouts >>> of all the cards I used to make for art fairs (front and back), all sorts >>> of stuff. There is nothing embarrassing or compromising on the drive - >>> aside from the fact that 90+% of the photos absolutely suck - but I balk at >>> just blithely sending off all these images to who knows where... Am I being >>> unduly paranoid? (As opposed to duly paranoid...) >>> >>> Maybe I should just shell out a few bucks for a new enclosure or see if I >>> can salvage the drive and put in my PC.... >>> >>> Any thoughts? >>> >>> Mark >>> >>> >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> [email protected] >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>> follow the directions. >> > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
