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should i zero my hard drive before returning it?
- Thread starter lyons238
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Not a knock against newegg, but I would never send it back without at least a zeroing out.. I'm a bit more paranoid, so I'd 7-pass it.
well im zeroing it through usb right now and it says its going to take 5 hours. but i have to bring it to the ups store in about 2
well im zeroing it through usb right now and it says its going to take 5 hours. but i have to bring it to the ups store in about 2
It's your personal data.. how much is it worth to you?
well i dont have any passwords saved or anything...and i could care less if someone looked at my pictures and stuff. what really is there to hide on my hd?
Well.. you brought it up!
If there's nothing on there you don't care about a stranger looking at and rifling through, then don't bother.
Well.. you brought it up!
If there's nothing on there you don't care about a stranger looking at and rifling through, then don't bother.
well i mean its not like i would want them to be going through it but i mean the only thing valuable on there is my music. theres no way they could like get access to any of my credit cards is there?
also does anyone know what newegg does with there returned drives?
Not through your actual mp3 files, but who knows what information is cached on that hard drive and what a determined person could find. A password here, a website here, some personal info there, and it can build a picture towards a nefarious goal.
Is it likely to happen? Probably not. The next person who buys that drive likely won't know **** about that kind of stuff. Me, I'd never return a drive without making sure that the next person who gets it can't get a byte of my data off of it.
i didnt mean through my mp3 files, i just meant thats really all i have that would be valuable. but dont you think newegg would clear the drives before reselling them?
No idea.. There's no mention in their Returns page. If it's not defective, they'll likely repackage and resell, no? As far as I know, most places don't bother with that. Repackage & Resell. Whatever is on the drive isn't their problem, they only sell the hardware, not the content.
yeah i see. well if i just erase the drive but not zero it. nothing will show up uness the person hunts fr it right/
ok well i ended up zeroing it once...im not completely crazy about doing the 7 times one, especially through usb, it takes so long. it took 1 hour for me to zero my old drive directly in the hd. it took over 4 hours to zero it through the usb. but thanks for your advice guys.
Is this a Joke
If you can zero you should zero. You may just think you have pictures of kittens on it but you could just a easily have bank info on it. Zero Zero Zero in fact download a hard drive cleaner and wipe it several times you can never do it enough.
If you can zero you should zero. You may just think you have pictures of kittens on it but you could just a easily have bank info on it. Zero Zero Zero in fact download a hard drive cleaner and wipe it several times you can never do it enough.
7-pass is just my level of paranoia, your milage may vary. However, I think you made the right choice. A simple zeroing out will force a miscreant to be determined to look for your information and not get very much of it.
yeah also, another point is i only had the drive for about a 3 weeks, so not much collected on it