> In general, if the disk is dead enough that you're looking at replacement,
> you'll probably not be totally pleased with the results of those programs..
>
I have replaced a couple of drives in my life - because a few sectors
didn't read back right. I expect a overwrite program to be just
fine under such circumstances.
> > There are also bulk erasers that reset every bit magnetically,
> > but those will probably void the warranty too. (You'll
> > need a low-level reformat to recreate sector addresses on the
> > suddenly blank surface.)
>
> Note that this only works well for single-platter disks - the field
> you need to get the *inner* surfaces of the platters, especially for
> a 5 or 6 platter disk, is quite astounding....
Why would it be hard to reach the inner surfaces - the disks
are not superconducting so the outer ones do not shield the
inner ones from a strong magnetic field. You should be fine
as long as the field extend far enough to get the entire
drive. A high-frequency device might have trouble,
but you don't need that - even a static field will do.
Helge Hafting
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