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Resolved Question

Older External Drive seems dead. Need proper disposal method

Aug 29, 2012 1:33AM PDT

I have an eight year old 500GB external drive that no longer mounts on the host computer desktop. Putting my ear to the enclosure, I hear the rhythmic click, click sound that tells me it is not functioning. I was using this drive as a Time Machine backup on my second (seldom used) Mac. My question is, since I was using it as a Time Machine backup, it therefore contains financial and other personal data that I need to "wipe" before I trash it, but how can I do that when the drive won't mount? Should I just drill some holes through it, or give it a good smash with a sledge hammer? I would appreciate any ideas. Thanks.

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There are 2 click failures I encounter.
Aug 29, 2012 1:37AM PDT

One is that the enclosure has failed and the drive is fine. You put the drive into a new enclosure and it springs back to life.

The second is where it doesn't come back and to kill the data, the sledge hammer does the final erasure.
Bob

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Thanks, Proffitt
Aug 29, 2012 4:32AM PDT

Thanks, Proffitt . . . It's definitely DOA. I just smashed it to smither-eens. "The drive is dead. Long live the Drive!" =)