Hard Drive Replacement

I just bought a new system from Dell and the hard drive is a little noisy. Dell is sending someone to replace it but they want the old one. Since the disc has sensitive data on it, I don't want to let it go. Does anyone have a way to handle this so that my info does not fall into the wrong hands?

 

two ways of doing...

1) run a strong magnet over the HDD rendering it useless
OR
2)get hold of overwriting software. wat the software does is it writes over all the space used by u with crap......

 

Thanks! What type of magnet are you talking about so I have an idea as what to use? I have a couple of magnets about the size of a quarter with a thickness of about 1/4 inch for example.

 

See my reply in software

 

Thanks again!

 

I would use the program Eraser free from Major Geeks at http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4221 this will get rid of any and all data and rewrites over it 35 times, and is much safer than any magnet routine in my opinion. Hope that Helps

 

That looks like the ticket. Many thanks!

 

or u cud just ask the dell guy to move ur data into the new hard drive and then take it will they do that for you?

 

I'll ask. Thanks!

 

another option is to use the maximum pc way of silencing noisy hdds. use two rubber bands to suspend the hdd. crazy i know but it just might work.

 

Thanks, but Dell is coming with a new HD.

 

Thanks! Actually, the new drive to be installed by Dell is "imaged" as they call it with all the original software. Since my system is so new with little on it, I'll back up the new one once I get it. Of interest, I just learned of a relative who just bought a Dell who complained about this and they sent her a complete set of CD's to solve the problem.
In talking to Dell re data theft, though, they tell me I shouldn't worry about sensitive data being stolen as it is quite a task to actually obtain such info from a drive. The main barrier, they say, is the pass words needed to log on and to access files. What do you think about this?
Speaking of magnets, what size would you recommend? I have two which are about the size of a quarter and put together, they wolud be about 3/8" thick.

 

Is the quarter sized, 3/8" thick magnet enough to do the job?