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GDisk:  External USB/FireWire Hard Disk Drive (Read 77437 times)
Pleonasm
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Re: GDisk:  External USB/FireWire Hard Disk Drive
Reply #30 - Jun 8th, 2006 at 6:05pm
 
Brian, the Partition Magic 8.0 User Guide (page 44) says, "The Delete and Secure Erase operation destroys the data in a selected partition by overwriting the data.  If you use secure erase to destroy a partition, it cannot be undeleted.  (The Secure Erase feature does not meet Department of Defense or NSA requirements.)"

Unfortunately, this description does not indicate the algorithm being used by Partition Magic for the erase operation.  Whatever it is, it is less secure than the DoD specification.
 

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Re: GDisk:  External USB/FireWire Hard Disk D
Reply #31 - Jun 8th, 2006 at 6:16pm
 
Thanks Pleo. The temperature rise certainly frightened me and I won't be attempting Delete and Secure Erase again. I guess it could have been a false reading but I've used HDTune for quite a while and I've never seen temperatures do this before. Within a few minutes of aborting the program, the temperature had fallen by 5 to 10 degrees. Anyone like to confirm these temperature findings?

 
 
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Re: GDisk:  External USB/FireWire Hard Di
Reply #32 - Jun 10th, 2006 at 10:30am
 
Brian, concerning the rise in the temperature of the hard disk drives:
  • What is the normal operating range for these drives?  Is 55°C outside of the operating specifications provided by the manufacturer?
  • Isn't a 15°C rise in temperature "normal" in so far as the ambient temperature in the room could easily change this much, too?
  • Maybe the maximum reading of 55°C you observed is an asymptotic value - i.e., had you continued the erase process, it would not have increased further?
  • Maybe it would be worthwhile to check the temperature of the entire system (and optionally adjusting the fan speed) using SpeedFan?
Just some thoughts to ponder . . . .
 

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Re: GDisk:  External USB/FireWire Hard Disk D
Reply #33 - Jun 10th, 2006 at 4:57pm
 
Pleo,

I’ve been using HD Tune for the last few months on a learning basis. It shows the same HD temperatures as does SpeedFan which is reassuring. The HD temperatures are certainly related to ambient temperature and are higher in the warmer times of the day. In the Dell 8400 that I was using, the primary HD temperature averaged mid 40’s (Celsius) and the secondary HD averaged 4 degrees lower. Doing processor intensive activities such as video editing and backup image creation, the temperature could reach the high 40’s (during the warmer times of the day). Manufacturers regard 55 degrees as a critical temperature, not to be exceeded.

I had read that wiping a disk caused the HD temperature to rise so that is why I opened HD Tune. I wasn’t expecting to see a rapid temperature rise to critical temperature over the space of a few minutes. As it was a linear rise I wasn’t prepared to continue so I can’t say whether it would have stopped at 55 degrees. I doubt it. I’d never seen a temperature change like this so I aborted the wipe.

Hard drive temperatures in my new Dell 9150 are at least 5 degrees lower than the 8400. The primary HD is now the cooler one. It’s related to case design. The 9150 has a BTX motherboard and a large fan next to the HDs.   
 
 
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