destroying data

Jefferson Kirkland numberwhun at comcast.net
Thu Jul 3 17:24:38 EDT 2003


bscott at ntisys.com wrote:

>On Thu, 3 Jul 2003, at 5:01pm, derek at derek.homeunix.org wrote:
>  
>
>>I was wondering if there was a good way to destroy the data on there
>>before I send it back.
>>    
>>
>
>  Most of the data sanitation methods available depend on the drive being
>operational, so you can write to it.
>
>  
>
>>I was thinking some sort of magnet, but I'm not sure how strong of one I
>>need.
>>    
>>
>
>  Really, *really* strong.  As an experiment, I've blasted a plain old IDE
>HDD with a commercial tape degausser, and as far as I could tell, it did not
>effect it at all.
>
>  I suspect, to achieve data sanitation with a non-functional drive, your
>only options would also void the warranty of the drive.  So it is your call
>as to what is more important: The cost of the drive, or data security.  I
>imagine it depends greatly on what is on the drive.  :-)
>
>  
>
If the warranty on thedrive isn't that big of an issue, removing the 
cover, taking out the platters and beating the living crud out of them 
with a hammer might just do the job. ( a BIG hammer!)

Regards,

Jeff






More information about the gnhlug-discuss mailing list