Need some help utilizing an older hard drive.

[An1mus]

So! hello everyone. i hope you're having a great day. 

recently (as in a few minutes ago) i took an old hard drive i used to use as a boot disk for an old computer with windows 7 on it. it started acting really strange, and wasnt corrupted (as far as i know) but would just be INCREDIBLY slow. like, 10 minutes for a right click to register. i assumed it was busted, and i was gonna build a new computer anyway, so it wasnt that big of a deal.

jump forward a few months, and my new comp is running great. i had to skimp on storage though, and my 128gb ssd isnt cutting it. i decided to take the old 500GB toshiba and plug it in so i could reformat it etc and wipe it for storage. 

first off, it made my computer flip the f**k out. i had to do 4 restarts and mess with he EZbios to force it to boot off of my SSD each time until it initiated a repair sequence for some reason and now its back to normal. so good to see, that hard drive is still autistic. once in, i went to my good ol' computer tab and saw i had a new drive... "system reserved". its about 100mb, and has no files on it. it wasnt there before, and it wont go away even i i format it. 

then the actual toshiba itself, every time i try formatting it it just sits there. no progress update, no confirmation of formatting, nothing. i click start, start fades out, and it just sits there. is that normal? and how can i just WIPE it completely. i dont care for ANYTHING on it, i just want some storage for not so important files like extra music i want on hand or some assorted programs. ive seen some programs like DBAN, but it requires you to boot from aforementioned disk, and the last thing i want to do is boot from that hellspawn. is there any other way? 

Tl;DR my hard drive from my old comp needs to be nuked, how do i completely COMPLETELY wipe it without having to boot from it?

 

 

OH, and also. id like to learn if it is junked or not, in which case i can just throw it away but id like to make sure because i can use it for storage.

Edited September 20, 2015 by An1mus

[Nexxus]

magnets

[Huginn]

As to nuke your HDD. I know that Killdisk can do that without having to boot from said HDD, and this should wipe your HDD out completly if I'm not mistaken. (been a while since I've used it)

[Rolling Potatoe]

Just throw it away, its junk. If youre worried about your old data just hit it with a hammer a couple of times.

 

500gb drives are spare parts, you can get one for 10$ on ebay or so. Heck if youd live near me id just give you one...

[Mattyd7829]

they would have to be pretty big magnets lol, if you are unable to get the drive to be usable, and just want to wipe it for security then I reckon your best bet would be to dismantle the drive and destroy the circuit board and do as much damage to the platters as possible. There may still be a slight possibility of data being pulled from the platters but it would need some exceptionally specialised equipment that most people simply do not possess. 

[ATrollAaaNnnnn]

what you want is a giant magnet, then you stick it close. Make sure the hard drive is powered. when you hear a clank, thats when you recycle the poor old thing.

[An1mus]

haha alright guys. ill just destroy the thing and get it out of here and stick to a purely SSD setup. appreciate it, RIP toshiba.

[ATrollAaaNnnnn]

im guessin the toshiba hd is from a laptop.

[iain]

To destroy the data put a drill bit right though the middle.