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vwcruisn

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 7, 2003
193
1
Santa Monica, Ca
The logic board on my powerbook is fried. I have dissasembled the unit and have been parting it out. I have a few buyers for the harddrive, but I don't want to sell it with all of my data on it. Is there a way to erase all of the data on this drive?
 

eva01

macrumors 601
Feb 22, 2005
4,720
1
Gah! Plymouth
vwcruisn said:
Sorry, im not toally computer savy,... what do you mean by an enclosure?

an enclosure is something you would buy at your local electronics store that can hold a HD. As in you know your external HDs, well it is basically an enclosure with a drive in it.

So you can go buy an enclosure (make sure it is for a laptop HD 2.5" i believe) and install the HD connect it to a computer and format it


Example
 

vwcruisn

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 7, 2003
193
1
Santa Monica, Ca
just out of curiosity... will i be able to get and data off the drive? I had not backed up the drive for a few months when the logic board failed. Will using an enclosure allow me to rescue any of the data?
 

Benjamindaines

macrumors 68030
Mar 24, 2005
2,841
4
A religiously oppressed state
vwcruisn said:
just out of curiosity... will i be able to get and data off the drive? I had not backed up the drive for a few months when the logic board failed. Will using an enclosure allow me to rescue any of the data?
Yes, when you plug it into the enclosure it will mount up on your desktop just like it would in the dead PowerBook.
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
Yes. Just make sure you buy an enclosure which is meant for your specific drive type (guessing to be 2.5" ATA) and which has connections you can use (Firewire if possible, USB if not - but don't get USB if all you have is a USB 1.1 port, as it'll take forever). You should be able to connect and access your drive in a matter of ten minutes or less.

As you'll then have an external drive, don't buy the cheapest p.o.s. enclosure you can find, sine you'll be able to use it until the drive dies, but there's no need to go all out and spend over $100 on something like that. newegg.com has a bunch of options, as likely does your local computer store.
 

Benjamindaines

macrumors 68030
Mar 24, 2005
2,841
4
A religiously oppressed state
jsw said:
Yes. Just make sure you buy an enclosure which is meant for your specific drive type (guessing to be 2.5" ATA) and which has connections you can use (Firewire if possible, USB if not - but don't get USB if all you have is a USB 1.1 port, as it'll take forever). You should be able to connect and access your drive in a matter of ten minutes or less.
Just take the drive with you to where you buy it and ask them what you need for it.
 
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