How to wipe a WD MyBook Live Drive?

I am returning the drive because it has been unreliable. I have run the restore to factory default but I am not satisfied that our data is securely wiped from the drive. It connects to our computers via the internet router and it does not contain a USB plug.

I use CyberScrub and have checked with them and their other program which I tried as a trial does not see either of the internet/cloud storage drives.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.
Kevin

 

Write zeros to the drive. Right click on the drive you want wipe and choose write zeros Click on link http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=612&sid=3

 

Thanks for the tip. I downloaded and installed the software. When I:
1. right click on the drive I do not get that option
2. when I run the software the drive does not appear as a drive it sees.

My Computer won't see the drive unless I select Network and then it can see the drive.

Suggestions?

 

Have you tried using CCleaner's Drive Wiper?

It's listed in the tools section of CCleaner, and it will give you the option of wiping the entire drive - up to 35 passes (Gutmann) - provided your external drive is in the available Drives list.

If not, maybe you could do better in DOS.

Download Darik's Boot and Nuke

You can burn this (ISO) to a CD, or you can burn it to an empty USB drive with a program called Rufus...

Create bootable USB drives the easy way​

Set your PC to boot from your chosen media and press enter when the Boot & Nuke menu appears (it will take a while for the drivers to load). If you can see your Live Drive in the list, then you can proceed to the next step.

1. Use up and down arrow keys to highlight the drive to wipe.
2. Press the space bar to select the drive.
3. Press M to select the wiping method.
4. Press F10 to begin the wipe process.​

If you still can't see your Live Drive in either CCleaner or DOS, I would contact Western Digital for advice.

 

Thanks for the two suggestions James.
I tried CCleaner and it doesn't see the drive.
The other method I figure is going to be the same result.
I am going to contact WD and see what they suggest.

I will update this thread when I receive their input and so on.

 

Did you register your WDC Hard Drive. I only use Western Digital HDDs and have an account with WDC. In all the years I have been using their drives. Last year I finally had a problem with one of their HDDs. WDC replaced the drive without question. Did you install the WDC Smartware software.

 

Yes and yes.
I have 2 of these drives and it is the second one that has been trouble from the beginning. They are willing to replace it but only with a refurbished drive which is unacceptable to me. I did not pay new dollars price for a used drive.

 

Looks like Live Drive is getting mixed customer reviews at Amazon...

Bad reviews are real - file I/O performance slows over time​

The one star reviews outnumber the five star reviews.

 

Does it see the drive in Disk Management and does it show the drive as Unallocated space.

 

No it does not.
I have conversed with WD and they do not have a solution either. They said seek a third party application and they will not provide support for the matter. Once again showing great customer service and satisfaction skills.

It is REALLY hard for me to believe that I am the first and only person wanting to securely wipe such a drive before returning it or selling it.

 

Open up data lifeguard. then double click on the drive. see if you get the option to write zeros to the drive.

 

Thanks LJ50 - the problem is the program does not see the drives on the network and I do not see how while using that diagnostic to browse for additional drives.

Suggestions?

BTW - I emailed a company XL Development and they wrote back:
but it does not work with network attached storage devices such as your MyBook Live drive. Those NAS devices usually have their own software and proprietary file system running that prevent secure delete tools from working properly. You would have to remove the drive from the NAS enclosure and connect it directly to a PC using a USB conversion adapter in order to wipe it with a secure delete tool.

Thoughts?

 

Would you be able to see the drive if you set it up like new again? If so, use the tools & suggestions from previous posts to wipe the drive clean, and then restore it back to factory defaults.

 

Thanks James for the suggestion.

I have restored the drive to factory settings and it still is not viewable. I do know when I first opened and plugged in the drive it was not viewable then either. It has always required selecting network from the browse tree of everything in order to see it.

 

That is normal but understand it does NOT automatically mean the drive was bad, repaired, then put back on the shelf. It could have been returned for any number of reasons totally unrelated to reliability. I don't worry about refurbished as long as the new drive warranty covers at least the remaining portion of the original warranty.

The problem now is getting past the enclosure (which may very well be, and often is, the problem with external drives). So in order to ensure you have no personal data on the drive, you may need to remove the drive from the enclosure and connect it directly to your motherboard via standard SATA drive connections. This by-passes the USB interface that currently is sitting between the drive and the computer. If you still cannot see or access the drive when direct connected, I would not worry about your personal data. If you can see it, then you can use CCleaner's Drive Wiper feature or Eraser "“ which uses DBAN technologies but with an easier to use UI.

 

Thanks for the input Bill.

I need to worry about the personal data because of the amount and specifics of the financial data, user IDs and passwords.

I think I may end up using the freaking thing as an expensive bookend because we (wife & I) will not sleep with the possibility of such data being used by criminals.

 

That can be a problem too - that I discovered for myself. I felt the same as you with old drives, tape and disk backup systems, etc. as I had a lot of tax, business and personal and client information on these systems. "Suddenly" (like 10 years later when the pile of old drives got too big) I found I no longer had "current" hardware that was compatible with the old drives. Now what? I had to "Mickey Mouse" connections to access what I could, but on several, I had no choice but to physically destroy the drives - not an easy task either.

So, rather than put this on a shelf where in 10 years that sensitive data will still be there, I recommend opening the enclosure and removing the actual drive. Then connecting it to (in) your current computer as a "secondary" (NOT boot) drive, then purging the drive of data.

BTW, the best way I found to "destroy" a drive is to drill 3 holes through the drive about 1 inch from the center hub. Not fun, but effective.

 

I guess it doesn't matter how big the drill bit is?

I have an old broken Maxtor that needs to be destroyed, and I had thought about using a 1/8" titanium-coated bit to do the job with. Course, I could always come back with with a bigger bit to drill through the pilot holes.

 

I suppose bigger is better in this case. But a tough, sharp drill tip is certainly what's really important.

It is also important to remember that badguys looking to harvest personal information off discarded hard drives are opportunist. They commit "crimes of opportunity" seeking the easy pickin's of low hanging fruit. If they see 3 holes drilled through the drive, they know it would be very time consuming to even "attempt" to retrieve any data. They are not going to waste their time, unless they are targeting you specifically and know there is something on that drive of considerable value.

 

Open the case, remove the drive, attach it to a computer either internally or via a USB-to-SATA adapter, DBAN the drive, reassemble the case and return it to WD.