SCSI hard drive question

Techguru365

Can a hard drive that has been degaussed be formatted and have a new os installed on it or is it trashed?

Find more posts tagged with

Save $250 on 2025 certification boot camps from Infosec!

Book now with code EOY2025

Button

Comments

MTciscoguy

In saying degaussed, are you talking about using a magnetic eraser? If so, yes, it can be used again, you will have to low level format, then set up partitions as well as do a normal format on it, what type of system are you working with, let me know and I should be able to give you a step by step process, back in the old days, that is how we bought hard drives and you had to start at the beginning and build them before they would work.

netsysllc

I am not sure when drives started having their firmware on the platters but if that is the case and it was erased it is useless unless you have some way to write that back on there.

MTciscoguy

Even the new SSD drives still have a firmware chip in them, so they can be redone, if you know what you are doing., unless there is physical damage to the drive, it can be brought back, you just have to know what you are doing. Of course now a days, I don't know why someone would want to bring back a SCSI drive, the SATA interface is the norm now a days and you have to purchase an add on card for most computers, or use a convertor to use a SCSI drive. I am running my Dell Poweredge 1850 with an external USB raid over the original dual SCSI raid, so I can swap at will and purchase a drive anywhere, SCSI drives are not real easy to find these days, unless you are looking on ebay for used gear.