Zero Out External Hard Drive USB Takes Way To Friggin Long!

[Luthien]

So, I have this external seagate 160GB hard drive and to zero it out will take over 50 hours. This got me thinking about the new seagate 500GB external I have and how long it will take to zero that one out when I want to sell or give it away. I am looking at around 170 hours for that sucker 7 DAYS!!! That is just CRAZY! Someone has to come up with a faster way!

I have already thought about removing the HD from the enclosure to hook it up VIA EIDE and zero it out in about 70 Minutes that way but the special star bolts with raises center are so specialized that they cannot be removed. No one has the tool for it. Tried Home Depot, Lowes, Radio Shack and no one has a tool for it. The seagate freeagent drives are sealed so their is no way to remove the HD. How can this be? 7 Days to secure a HD with a single Zero pass??? CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The power goes out during that time you have to start all over again. Just CRAZY!!!!!!!!!


Got to be one of the biggest flaws in external retail USB drives. Manufacturers sealing their external enclosures should be hung.


RANT RANT RANT !@#$@!#!@#$@#$!!%#!$^@!#E#@!!@$#

 

[Kelemvor]

I guess you can just hook it up to a PC you don't use often (or one that's always on) and just let it go... That's why I hae an enclosure that I put my own drive in. I can pop it out for things like this real easy.

 

[Jeff7]

Go to the drive's properties in Device Manager.
Enable the write cache.

Then do your zero-write.




Got any pics of the special screws? They're probably Torx screws.

 

[Azimuth40]

They are anti-theft screws, lots of builders are starting to put them on the back of PC cases. Fry's carries them in the standard deluxe set of bit heads for about $10 to $15. You can also find them at most automotive stores with a large selection of tools and again at large electronics parts stores. No I do not consider Radio Shack as being in that category.

Frys cheap set 1

Frys inexpensive set

Frys expensive set