Wiping Hard Drives

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  • JayPaul
    Trusted Tech

    250+ Posts
    • Oct 2012
    • 304
    #1

    Wiping Hard Drives

    Hi all,
    A customer of mine recently asked for me to totally wipe everything from their hard drives, not just formatting. I downloaded the software 'Eraser' and used an adapter to hook the HDD to my laptop.
    Although it can never actually see the HDD on the laptop, so I can't browse it or anything the Eraser software can see it. I wiped it as a test by UK standards 3 passes which is fairly intense for a wipe.
    It took a couple of hours, now because I can't see it I also can't format it afterwards. I thoguht I would put it back and boot up the old MP 2550 tester anyway to see what happens, it loads for ages and eventually either comes up with SC670 or SC672, even if I try booting up without the HDD plugged in after. Has this totally ruined the Controller?
    Has anyone done this type of thing before. I'm supposed to do this on 8 of their machines but if it can wreck perfectly good boards then I need to figure out another method.
    Any input would be great
    Tags: eraser, hdd, laptop, software
    • guitar9199
      Service Manager

      Site Contributor
      1,000+ Posts
      • Sep 2016
      • 1097
      #2
      Re: Wiping Hard Drives

      Originally posted by JayPaul
      Hi all,
      A customer of mine recently asked for me to totally wipe everything from their hard drives, not just formatting. I downloaded the software 'Eraser' and used an adapter to hook the HDD to my laptop.
      Although it can never actually see the HDD on the laptop, so I can't browse it or anything the Eraser software can see it. I wiped it as a test by UK standards 3 passes which is fairly intense for a wipe.
      It took a couple of hours, now because I can't see it I also can't format it afterwards. I thoguht I would put it back and boot up the old MP 2550 tester anyway to see what happens, it loads for ages and eventually either comes up with SC670 or SC672, even if I try booting up without the HDD plugged in after. Has this totally ruined the Controller?
      Has anyone done this type of thing before. I'm supposed to do this on 8 of their machines but if it can wreck perfectly good boards then I need to figure out another method.
      Any input would be great

      Any software like "Eraser" is going to write random ones and zeros in every sector, but for a copier to recognize a hard drive it needs a clean format.

      Here's a link to hopefully help your computer find the drive.

      External Drive Not Showing Up or Recognized? Here Is the Fix

        Comment

        • slimslob
          Retired

          Site Contributor
          25,000+ Posts
          • May 2013
          • 35063
          #3
          Re: Wiping Hard Drives

          The HDD most likely did not show in My Computer because it was not formatted/partitioned for the computers OS. If you use a Windows PC go to Computer Management - Storage - Disk Management. If it is not listed there, Software such as Eraser will not be able to see it. If it is listed, you can format/partition from there. You can also use a software such as Mini Tool Partition Wizard. It also can be used on SD cards and thumb drives.
          MiniTool Partition Wizard | Best partition magic alternative for Windows PC and Server

            Comment

            • JayPaul
              Trusted Tech

              250+ Posts
              • Oct 2012
              • 304
              #4
              Re: Wiping Hard Drives

              Cheers both, I will give these a go next week when I get the time. I'm still slightly concerned how the copier wouldn't load up past sc 670 when the HDD wasn't even plugged in though, must have caused some corruption to controller not being able to recognise it's wiped patterns. It would be interesting if there is a way to fix that without replacing expensive components.

                Comment

                • davel
                  Technician

                  1,000+ Posts
                  • Oct 2011
                  • 1045
                  #5
                  Re: Wiping Hard Drives

                  Why did customer want drive wiped, if disposing of machine remove drive, give to them for their IT to wipe/destroy.

                    Comment

                    • slimslob
                      Retired

                      Site Contributor
                      25,000+ Posts
                      • May 2013
                      • 35063
                      #6
                      Re: Wiping Hard Drives

                      Originally posted by davel
                      Why did customer want drive wiped, if disposing of machine remove drive, give to them for their IT to wipe/destroy.
                      In fact, at one time that is what Ricoh recomment.

                        Comment

                        • igormclven
                          Junior Member
                          • Oct 2014
                          • 7
                          #7
                          Re: Wiping Hard Drives

                          The disk is detected but is not seen in the equip because it has no format. The most appropriate as you have already written above is, first apply a complete erase. And then to adjust as disk to be MBR and to execute a formatting in the machine, this will remove the error SC and the disk will be clean and unrecoverable the old information.

                            Comment

                            • tsbservice
                              Field tech

                              Site Contributor
                              5,000+ Posts
                              • May 2007
                              • 7635
                              #8
                              Re: Wiping Hard Drives

                              I would get the big hammer and smash it, but that's just me.
                              Seriously afaik KonMin has function to overwrite HDD data with several options available and print confirmation report, although I have to admit I never did it. Still sounds much better than removing HDD, connecting it to PC and using third party software...
                              A tree is known by its fruit, a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost, he who sows courtesy, reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
                              Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.

                                Comment

                                • JayPaul
                                  Trusted Tech

                                  250+ Posts
                                  • Oct 2012
                                  • 304
                                  #9
                                  Re: Wiping Hard Drives

                                  I'm not sure why they wanted it, I think it was because they had just been bought out so the customer turned huge right near the end of contract so we were fighting to keep them against a canon dealer. So we probably promised them a load of stuff and said how we did this, that and the other (HDD wipe must have been mentioned to show how gdpr compliant we are etc)
                                  We lost the customer, but naturally want to keep them happy incase the canon guys end up being bad so they come back to us, which is why I'm having to do this. I did almost recommend that the machines were so old I may as well just smash the hard drives to pieces but as they are all working machines we are selling them to a company who then ships to Africa, so they still have value while working with hdd in them.
                                  Doing it isn't so bad, only takes 5 mins to remove hard drive and plug it into laptop, then takes about 15 seconds to start the wipe, leave the laptop running while I'm busy doing other stuff and put hard drive back in later.
                                  Formatting will be good enough once this is out the way and I can resume normal life of phoning customers to say 'have you tried turning it off and on again' or 'have you cleaned the slit glass... not the big section of glass, just the thin strip of glass to the left of it... no I said... ok why are you taking the toner bottles out?'

                                    Comment

                                    • keithxxiii
                                      Just a tech

                                      250+ Posts
                                      • Nov 2014
                                      • 468
                                      #10
                                      Re: Wiping Hard Drives

                                      Try diskpart.exe

                                      list disk
                                      select disk
                                      clean
                                      create partition primary

                                      then go to disk management and perform a clean format or from diskpart alone, type format
                                      Aye! Cut the crap

                                        Comment

                                        • JayPaul
                                          Trusted Tech

                                          250+ Posts
                                          • Oct 2012
                                          • 304
                                          #11
                                          Re: Wiping Hard Drives

                                          Ok so finally got the laptop to see it, only works with usb 2.0 now which is annoying but oh well. Sorted the HDD out in Disk management after checking it over with Mini tool partition wizard first.
                                          Put it back in the machine (I knew this would happen) it still gets stuck on Please Wait for about 10 minutes before coming up with SC 670. At that point you can't do anything and can't enter service mode either. Same thing happens if I turn it off and unplug the HDD then turn back on. I think at this point nothing will save this board no matter what I do to HDD. Lesson learned.

                                            Comment

                                            • slimslob
                                              Retired

                                              Site Contributor
                                              25,000+ Posts
                                              • May 2013
                                              • 35063
                                              #12
                                              Re: Wiping Hard Drives

                                              One questions, were there any options or JAVA applications installed on the machine that were not uninstalled?

                                                Comment

                                                • JayPaul
                                                  Trusted Tech

                                                  250+ Posts
                                                  • Oct 2012
                                                  • 304
                                                  #13
                                                  Re: Wiping Hard Drives

                                                  Nothing I am aware of. No SD cards in machine, it had fax but that board was removed the whole time during all of this. Now as it won't boot up I can't be 100% sure as I can't check but top 90's

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