Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

DaveBlack

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 26, 2013
2
0
I have a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR SDRAM, with Disk Utility, i am erasing a 2.2 tb external (My Book) drive. how long will it take?
 
I have a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR SDRAM, with Disk Utility, i am erasing a 2.2 tb external (My Book) drive. how long will it take?

1-4 minutes in normal mode. A Zero, about 4 hours or more if you're on USB2. You didn't mention which bus (FW or USB)
 
4 days? Even USB 2.0 shouldn't take that long. Are you running it through a USB 1.0 hub, by any chance?
 
Did you do a simple erase? Or did you set it to overwrite the disk? If you set it to overwrite the disk and did selected more than 1 pass you're wasting your time.

Wise words.

After a single wipe pass, it's very unlikely the CIA could recover any useful data off a modern drive. Let alone some random criminal. The multi-pass wipe options are completely unnecessary these days.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.