Will degaussing a hard drive cause damage?

[Avalon]

There's a professional degaussing machine at work, and I was curious if you degaussed a hard drive on it if it would damage the drive in addition to just scrambling the data platters, or if it would just simply scramble the data platters.

I can't seem to find a solid answer on google.

 

[Foadbot]

unless you smashed it repeatedly onto the hard drive, i think it would just erase the data

 

[jaqie]

Yes, it might. Some drives have an engineering cylinder that stores data the drive itself uses for calibration data et al. If the drive you degauss is one of those, it will never work again.

 

[JackMDS]

If you want to get rid 0f the drive it might be a Good idea.

Otherwise why?

 

[JBT]

We use one at work for HDD's that we have trouble with wipping. I'm pretty sure it destroys the drive. If I get the time I will try it out on one of our old ones.

 

[jaqie]

you whip your hard drives?
That sounds somehow very wrong...

 

[JBT]

wups the h was not intendid.

 

[Rubycon]

Yes it will render the drive useless. Degaussing is great to quickly wipe data but it also turns the drive into a brick with moving parts.

 

[Bluefront]

I accidentally (don't ask) got an electro-magnet close to two running hard drives (two maxtors). It totally wiped all the data off both drives, but did no other damage. Don't try this unless you're real brave....