• Count Regal Inkwell@pawb.social
    0·
    24 days ago

    Don’t look at it.

    Boot into a linux live usb

    Run dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<driveid>

    I probably didn’t get that perfect, but, close enough. Look it up on the internet or check the man page idk

  • \[DUMBASS]/@aussie.zoneEnglish
    0·
    25 days ago

    This is why I stopped ordering from wish, I study the tracking like I’m investigating the cartel.

    • Engywook@lemmy.zip
      0·
      25 days ago

      No kidding, once I was able to exactly follow the route of my laptop shipped from Lenovo (China) on flightradar after a careful study of carrier/parcel number/tracking events time and don’t remember what else. It was literal real time tracking. Don’t even remember how I did it.

  • Seefra 1@lemmy.zip
    0·
    23 days ago

    Yes, tip number 1: never buy an used HDD

    Tip number 2: check smart if there are relocated sectors return it

    Tip number 3: run badblocks on the drive, (-w mode) and if there are no errors then check smart again, if there are errors or relocated sectors return the drive

    Good luck!

    • Petersson@feddit.org
      0·
      23 days ago

      Yes, tip number 1: never buy an used HDD

      Why shouldn’t one? Because SSDs are more reliable or what?

        • kadu@scribe.disroot.org
          0·
          23 days ago

          What kind of HDD? for what purpose? For what budget?

          “Don’t buy used” is a dumb tip because it means nothing and addresses nothing.

          I use a WD Enterprise HDD from 2012. I bought it used. It passes all tests with flying colours, zero issues so far… it keeps a mirror of my backup. It’s not my main backup, it’s a copy of a copy. Guess what? I paid an extremely low price for it as a student on a budget, yet it was already proven useful many times both for the backups but also to keep my torrents seeding for longer, and it if does indeed fail… no biggie, not even my backup is compromised.

          There are excellent refurbished HDDs too. Either way, “don’t buy used” is the kind of blanket statement somebody cosplaying as a infosec home lab data specialist comments on Lemmy, but means absolutely nothing and offers no useful advice.

          • Seefra 1@lemmy.zip
            0·
            22 days ago

            I’ve never cosplayed as an “infosec home lab data specialist”, but I’ve had many bad personal experiences with used harddrives, drives that were working perfectly fine but failed after few months from several sources.

    • thermal_shock@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      23 days ago

      Your tip 1 isn’t good for all situations. I have a 4 drive RAID 10 setup I have zero issues putting a used drive in after I test and inspect. Used doesn’t mean trash, it’s all situational.

      Also, backup backup backup.

      And “used” could be used wrong here, I typically use serverpartdeals and get 20TB+ drive sizes, refurbished. They come with a 5 year warranty and will get them replaced if there are issues.

  • Sunkblake@lemmy.world
    0·
    24 days ago

    Recover the data on it. Burn it with fire. Cry because you saw what it was.

    Ask yourself why there is a school report on an animation studio on the “new” laptop your “stepmothers” mother bought and used towards the end as she lost her senses thinking people were spying on her trying to hide everything from “the them” deleting what ever she thought was spying on her.

  • ameancow@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    23 days ago

    if it’s a traditional/old style with a spinning magnetic disc, listen for clicking sounds as it reads, if you hear clicks it’s probably about to die, don’t put anything valuable on it.