Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Hi Brian,

I have an old WD and a WD My Passport hard drives.  The larger hard drive I haven't used for donkey ages (years?) and when I plug it in, nothing happens.  The smaller My Passport doesn't seem to have anything on it.  Question: What do I need to do, if anything, before getting rid of these?  Thanks for your help.

Also, when do you think an update on what to purchase for a new computer might be coming from Apple?

Posted

There is software that's Linux-based, and free, that will write to all the sectors on a HD, which zeros out the data. I have used a program called DBAN. The trick is that you need access to the HD for it to work. WD External Drives are notorious for having the worst cases/USB interface. The Drive itself might be fine; you just can't get to it and it will require you removing the HD, hooking up a USB to SATA Cable (or installing it into another computer,) booting off the DBAN CD and telling it to Nuke the drive. 

It's a process, and is fairly "Geeky." If you are looking for easy / wizard based, you are likely gonna have to pay for that software. 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...