how to clean your hard drive in linux mint
 

how to clean your hard drive in linux mint

Remove the power source, press the power button for 10 seconds, open the computer, remove the hard drive, dust it off and put it back. Has nothing to do with the OS. You might want to clean the fan too, those things always accumulate lots of dust.

That made me smile ... :)
I'm assuming the OP meant at the OS / SW level, but we'd really like more info first.

LOL...there's no need to "clean" your hard drive. You can delete temporary files from within your browser. There's really nothing else you need to "clean".

@ mennohellinga: You have me in stitches with that answer. I nearly laughed my head off reading that. So cool - made my evening! Thank you!

just remember that after you remove the dust that
you DO NOT put it in the dish washer to "clean"
now in some cases you CAN put a keyboard in the dish washer - but allow for 6 weeks to dry


however what do you mean by "clean" a drive
there is DBAN ( google it)
there is "shred" - most os's have this built in
there is " dd" - also built in

I like the dd option to make a very LARGE random file

not sure what you mean by clean. do you mean securely erase or get just rid of tmp and cache files ect...?
if it was along the lines of what JOHN VV was suggesting then dd is the tool to erase securely but it takes forever on a whole drive. it can also do individual files. use like (i.e "dd if=/dev/random of=drive_file_to be erased"). i use bleach bit to clean and wipe things like caches and all those temp type of files. bleachbit is automatic and seems to do a good job not sure how secure the wipe is but i don't care for the purpose i use it for. really all this is probably irrelevent as others said tho. there is also a wipe command in terminal but like dd it takes forever and the default is like 18 time or something and really is only neccessary if your selling cpu and want to securely wipe a drive or certain files that you don't want the person that buys it to recover.

LOL. I dabble in electronics and I sometimes clean boards with warm soapy water, rinse and sit on something outside in the sunlight for several hours to ensure the chips are properly dehydrated. So far I've had no problems with this method. Only thing to watch for is the surface mounted components can come off if scrubbed too hard. If in doubt leave it dusty because static electricity is always a potential destroyer of sensitive chips and handling too much without a static strap will eventually pop something. I personally don't use a static strap, I've developed the habit of touching the cabinent on exposed steel sections firmly before grabbing a board or whatever and installing/uninstalling. Just my 2 cents worth of experience in case somebody reads through this thread and is wondering how a piece of electronics might be made to look better safely.

no that wasnt the right way to clean a hard drive

net work
 

why is it every time i go into linux i always get the pop up on network whats going on with linux?????????

please explain ???
that dose not make any sense

@ John VV

Are you using dishwasher tablets? They're caustic and likely to kill the keyboard! I once ultrasonically cleaned the keyboard for a DEC VT220 which has multiple flexible membrains for the keyboard decode matrix The tracks aren't etched like normal PC boards, they're spark deposited. The ultrasound cleaned the keyboard all right - the tracking on the membrane was completely gone! :doh:

We used to have to ask people who spilled tea/coffee on their keyboards, "Do you take sugar?" If they did, the keyboard was junk. Sugar is carbon which conducts electricity.

A cheapo keyboard costs about £6.00. Get a new one!

Play Bonny! :hattip:

How do we clean the platters?

Same here.

If its dead, yeah....but if you can clean it, why not?

I spose if you buy those ultra-cheap 'have the liespan of a gnat' keyboards just getting a new one might seem like a better idea than if you buy good keyboards.

The (not gaming) keyboard I use costs about 50 euros, so I am extra careful with it.

OK, OK, If it's dead you can't harm it any more. If sticking it in a dishwasher makes it work, it's a bonus. But as a practice with electronic equiptment I wouldn't advise it.

Play Bonny! :hattip:

Just blow the dust off. If this doesn't work, the disk is lost (and the warranty seal is broken, so don't expect a refund). :)

@krazywomen: you might want to look into asking questions the smart way and start a new thread for a new question.

I would guess that pure distilled water would be pretty harmless for (gentle) cleaning of keybds and circuit boards.
Wouldn't try it on disks though...
isopropyl alcohol is popular, along with some unlikely candidates http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f148...eaning-680093/ ...
:)

You mentioned discs. I'm assuming you mean the platters in the HDD. A HDD can't be serviced in the field, that renders it unreliable and therefore unusable. The tinyest spec of dust between the head and platter can scratch the platter. Disassembly must be done in a clean room and these days is only done to recover data.

I'd _never_ stick a keyboard, or any other electrical stuff into a dishwasher to clean it.

I use the 'warm soapy water and leave it to dry' method like SharpyWarpy. Though I add metho to the water, and rinse in water then a bit of metho.

BTW, I learnt that method from my father, whos been an electrical engineer since the late 1960s.

Hmmm...I shoud have put a smilie in to make it more obvious I was joking.

I is possible to get away with cracking a HDD and even changing platters without a clean room (I've done it). But yeah, I wouldnt trust any HDD that has been opened, even if it was done professionally in a clean room. Its just not worth the risk, HDDs are cheap....

@ cascade9

I've been an electronic engineer since the late 1960s and wouldn't use anything other than water but only if really pushed. Then again it would depend if it was hard water, you can get lime deposits which would impare its use. I feel you'd really have to love a keyboard to have to resort to washing it. (John VV's the guy using the dishwasher BTW)

We used to look after Atex Editorial systems (Based on DEC PDP11 technology) at a local newspaper which used keyboards with individual keyswitch mechanisms. Each had a foil disk on a foam pad which, when pressed, registered a capacitance change which was seen as a key press. The newspaper employed people to cpme round and clean the keyboards with some sort of spray stuff... We'd have to spend most of the day replacing key mechanisms as the spray destroyed the foam pad. Another one of the reasons I don't advise washing a keyboard - they don't all use the same means of registering key presses. The newer membrain ones would be the only ones worth trying.

The only disk platters I can remember being "cleaned" with water belonged to DEC RK05s,RL02s,etc where a headcrash meant replacing and aligning heads. (Sheesh! I've forgotten the name of the larger DEC drives with removeable "cake stand" disk packs! :doh: )

Play Bonny! :hattip:

http://www.wordnik.com/words/accuracy

Regards

Its best to use demineralised/distilled water if you're going to wash electronics. Hard water is a no-no. Even normal tap water isnt good thanks to the crap in it (flouride, clorine, etc.), and I use tank water (rain water) over tap water. Its also best to be careful about what soap you use, most commercial soaps tend to have salt as an ingredient.

You dont have to love a keyboard to wash it......I know one guy who was washing his keyboard about once a week, due to one of his kids being a nasty little sot who would pour a drink over the keyboard about that often.

Not that I wash keyboards that often, most of the time if I wash electrical parts its a motherboard, RAM or expansion cards.

Yeah, I know. I just dont get why you quoted a post I made (where I though it was pretty clear I manually wash) then put in something about dishwashers....