Seagate 1TB Hard Drive Replacement Program?

See

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4459487?answerId=20153502022#20153502022&ac_cid=tw123456#20153502

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4472056?answerId=20156255022#20156255022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3203546?answerId=15937628022#15937628022 and

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3201186?answerId=20151924022#20151924022

for more information. Do note that the program goes to at least 12 APR 13, so there's no hurry to jump in. That gives you time to get all of your ducks in a row before proceeding.

I had my HD replaced under the Seagate recall program. Apple removes the defective HD and replaces it with a new one. As such, if there is any data on your exisiting HD you do not want others to possess, the safest thing to do is to securely erase the HD before taking in for service.

One way you can do so is:

1. Back up the HD completely.

2. Disconnect the drive containing your backup from your computer.

3. Use FileValult to encrypt each user account. When asked by FileVault, tell it to securely erase the "old" version of each user's Home directory. The secure erasure can take quite a long time (on my machine, a 260GB directory took around 24 hours and a 34GB directory took about 5 hours) , so don't do this right before your appointment to have your HD replaced.

4. If you want to be extra secure, create a temporary user account with Admin privileges and delete all the other user accounts (using the temp Admin account).

My drive is still readable but write protected, so I cannot erase it. Is there anything I can do before I take it in tomorrow?

Sorry, but how can you have a working hard drive with your OS on it if you can't write to it?

You can't erase a drive if you are booted into it.

I am booting it with an external drive.

I ordered an external drive to back up my imac as I received the replacement program recall email. The day before the external was delivered my drive failed and would nor boot. After formatting, installing and upgrading the external I can now see my old HD and the files on it. However I cannot erase it.

I've not heard of that; unfortunately, that scenario is a bit beyond my expertise; hopefully someone else will chime in. If no one does, I would absolutely have a chat with the people you are taking your Mac to to make sure it gets erased.

Guwapo wrote:

My drive is still readable but write protected, so I cannot erase it. Is there anything I can do before I take it in tomorrow?

I responded with this in your other thread:

See VK's steps for unlocking HDs at http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2329689 That might allow you to erase, reformat, and zero out the data.

Thanks, baltwo!! 😎

Thanks to everyone for your help. I managed to zero the drive and reinstall using the OSX install disk. I don't know why this failed on my first two attempts. Obviously I was doing something wrong. I very much appreciate evryones input.

I booked an appointment at Mainly Mac in Markham, Ontario. They ordered the new drive for me and I took it in and had it back in three hours. They also installed 4 more gigs of ram 2X2 for sixty bucks.

Cheers!!

Hi Jean

I had mine done a few weeks ago. I made sure I had the most recent backups of my HDD and then did a secure erase on it. My local Apple store replaced the drive while I waited and installed ML on it. Had to format the drive on returning home and then restored my SL system.

Quite painless.

I also got the email from Apple and talked to support 3 times. Backed it up, secure emptied the trash (business computer with sensitive payroll info on it), drove 60 miles to my appointment with Apple. It was only then that I find out my computer was not affected since it was only 500 gb instead of 1 TB. Unbelievable. Before going through all that, make sure your computer qualifies.

Not that it matters now, but had yours been affected, it would have been better to erase the entire drive instead of simply emptying the trash. You might want to keep that in mind in case you do need a new hard drive.