How to Wipe a Hard Disk Partition

If you have a faulty disk drive, which is in warranty, and need to return it to get it replaced, you might want to backup any data and then permanently remove the data from the disk. Since degaussing the disk with a very strong magnetic field would void the warranty provided by any disk manufacturer, you are left with the process of overwriting the partition data to render it useless to anyone who might try and read it.

****Note: If you have sensitive data on the disk, seek professional advice from firms that do data recovery on a day to day basis.

Much has been written about doing multiple overwrites with zero's, one's and random data, but on a modern disk drive usually a single overwrite is sufficient (see this link for more information).

What about a disk manufacturer's return policy and any voiding of the warranty?
Well, the Seagate return policy (as of the date of this web page) states that the warranty is void if:

1. The Seashield cover or top cover, or any seal or label is removed or damaged.
2. If the drive is improperly packaged.
3. If the drive experiences shock in excess of its G rating.

So protecting your data is unlikely to void the warranty.

What software to use to wipe a partition's data?
The thing to remember is whether the disk drive came out of a PC with a standard operating system (MAC, Linux, Windows) or from a RAID device in which case the operating system and the file system will be regarded as Unknown. Many software packages only work with standard systems. As a guide, the software will probably have Partition in its title. This link gives a list of such software.

How effective is the data removal?
If you really want to find out, take the disk along to a data recovery firm and see what they say. As stated in the Note above, if you have sensitive data, use a data recovery firm to either advise you or wipe the data.