RMAing a large HDD that has pirated movies/games on it, is it necessary to completely zero the drive?
The manufacturer requires that the faulty HDD be sent back. It's 18 TB, so ShredOS estimates 100 hours to completely wipe the drive. I really would rather not go through that. Does anyone else have experience with this?
If you're really worried about it, grab a free Linux dvd from a random computer magazine. Ctrl+A, then delete everything on the drive. Empty the recycle bin. Now copy and paste the dvd onto the drive as many times as it takes to fill it completely. When done, Ctrl+A again, delete and empty recycle bin again.
If you've got an agreed RMA, they're not going to go a deep dive file recovery, they'll be logging the serial number in a database and chucking the drive in the recycle pile. Emptying, filling and emptying again is more than enough.