| Author |
Message |
Roger Hamlett
Guest
|
 Posted:
Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:35 pm Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
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"Al" <no.spam@wanted.com> wrote in message
news:no.spam-9260BB.09202911022005@news.verizon.net...
| Quote: | In article <vVPOd.2918$lz5.94@newssvr24.news.prodigy.net>,
"Greysky" <greyskynospam@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was
still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it
into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed
to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told
me a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were
wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping
data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it
inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you
think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly
get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for
the
kids. Thanks.
Years ago, when reel-to-reel tape recorders were popular, there was a
gadget called a bulk reel eraser. It completely wiped any information on
the tapes. In essence it was just a giant electromagent that ran on AC.
The fluctuating magnet field was suffiecient to totally erase the
information and not leave a magnetic bias on the magnetic medium. If you
can find one, you might be able to build one easily from a discarded
tranformer.
Yes, and most of the screws are Torx. But they are also held in with a
drop of some sort of glue to prevent their backing out. I've extracted
platters from dozens of drives which I got at our town's recycling
center. I do it mainly for the magnets. And the platters make neat
coasters for your drinks ;-)
Beware though, that the design of digital tapes, can make them much harder |
to erase, than the old audio tapes. I had an eraser of the type you are
referring to. Had happily erased any number of audio tapes, then tried a
DAT tape. It was amazingly resistant to this type of erasure (after ten
minutes, it eventually became unreadable). The same is almost certainly
true of the data on a hard disk.
Best Wishes
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John Larkin
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Feb 11, 2005 10:12 pm Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
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On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 09:07:46 -0500, Keith Williams <krw@att.bizzzz>
wrote:
| Quote: | In article <cuhtl3$k7p$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk>, "Paul \( Skiing8
\)" <skiing@dodgit.com> says...
"John Larkin" <jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote in
message news:1i2o01ldnhn3e5d2pu30hno7rpdkvep2ks@4ax.com...
On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 20:58:03 GMT, "Greysky"
greyskynospam@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it
into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed
to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me
a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were
wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping
data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it
inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you
think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for
the
kids. Thanks.
Just bend the platters a tiny bit.
What's on them, anyhow?
John
be carefull, we had a drive and when we removed the cover and was in the
process of messing around with it the platter just shattered into a load of
shards, it was like glass. Sonds strange I know but thats exactly what it
was like
Probably because that what it was.
|
Well, then bending would take care of the data recovery problem.
John |
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Guy Macon
Guest
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| Posted:
Fri Feb 11, 2005 11:52 pm Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
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Al wrote:
| Quote: | Years ago, when reel-to-reel tape recorders were popular, there was a
gadget called a bulk reel eraser. It completely wiped any information on
the tapes. In essence it was just a giant electromagent that ran on AC.
The fluctuating magnet field was suffiecient to totally erase the
information and not leave a magnetic bias on the magnetic medium. If you
can find one, you might be able to build one easily from a discarded
tranformer.
|
Like I said before, radio shack sells them. They are called video
tape bulk erasers now.
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John Woodgate
Guest
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| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 12:06 am Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
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|
I read in sci.electronics.design that Paul Burke <paul@scazon.com> wrote
(in <373afuF59il66U3@individual.net>) about 'Ways to *REALLY* erase a
hard drive?', on Fri, 11 Feb 2005:
| Quote: | There are various Curie points, graded from korma to vindaloo.
|
What about phall? Many Indian restaurants won't serve it to people they
don't know, because the effects on an inexperienced eater upset the
other customers. Symbol - five chilis.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk |
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Barry Lennox
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 1:00 am Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
|
|
On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 20:58:03 GMT, "Greysky"
<greyskynospam@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
| Quote: | I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for the
kids. Thanks.
|
Just a magnetic degausser works, but you need a reasonably powerful
device. IIRC you require about 3500-4500 gauss for HDDs and DAT tapes,
while most of the low-cost commercial devices are around 1000 gauss.
There's some info at http://www.datalinksales.com/degaussers/home.htm
I used to use one that look a little like a microwave oven, and the
manufacturers blurb stated it used a charged cap dumped through a
coil. Never saw a schematic or got to look at it's guts however.
Barry Lennox |
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Reg Edwards
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 1:27 am Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
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| Try a hammer and chisel. It works for me. |
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John Woodgate
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 3:56 am Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
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|
I read in sci.electronics.design that Barry Lennox
<rianz.15.barryl@neverbox.com> wrote (in <9ovp019l650b32n2209gosel61b7df
5ps8@4ax.com>) about 'Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive?', on Sat, 12
Feb 2005:
| Quote: | I used to use one that look a little like a microwave oven, and the
manufacturers blurb stated it used a charged cap dumped through a coil.
Never saw a schematic or got to look at it's guts however.
|
I made a magnetizer for model railway motor magnets that way about 50
years ago. Rectifier straight off the 240 V mains to a 20 uF cap through
10 kohms. Switch to connect the cap to a 'no-volt coil' from a motor
starter - lots of turns. Custom-made magnetic circuit (the railway nerd
provided that from his machine-shop).
Interesting that the switch current is initially zero and finally zero,
so no arcing problems, but in between, about 2 A.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk |
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Scott Miller
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 4:52 am Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
|
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| Quote: | Super magnets (AIUI) will not do a bulk erase od the disk.
Thermite works for me.
|
Damn, stole my favorite technique. Getting the thermite lit is the tough
part - magnesium helps for that. I figure what you really need is a ceramic
holder for the drive that'll keep the molten stuff in one place and turn the
whole thing into a lump of slag, rather than melting straight through.
You may want to remove the drive from the PC first, too.
Scott |
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TCS
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 5:23 am Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
|
|
On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 20:58:03 GMT, Greysky <greyskynospam@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
| Quote: | I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for the
kids. Thanks.
|
Remove the cover. Remove the platters and sand off the media. (DoD trick) |
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Rich Grise
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 6:11 am Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
|
|
On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 13:56:00 +0000, Alan Turner wrote:
| Quote: | Hello,
On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 09:22:32 +0000, Paul ( Skiing8 ) wrote:
be carefull, we had a drive and when we removed the cover and was in the
process of messing around with it the platter just shattered into a load of
shards, it was like glass. Sonds strange I know but thats exactly what it
was like
Paul
The platters on some newer hard disks are made of glass. I believe the
later IBM DeskStar* (tm) series were among the first to have glass
platters. I'm not sure what the advantage is to glass, but I'd certainly
like to take one apart and have a look!
It's light, and you can get an optically smooth surface easier (read: |
cheaper) than on aluminum.
But really. Once you've opened the drive it's done, unless you get it
confiscated by some kind of black ops people.
Like that other person asked, what is on this drive? And I'd add, if it's
that sensitive, what are you doing carting it around as a demo?
Thanks,
Rich |
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Rich Grise
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 6:11 am Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
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|
On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 14:52:44 -0800, Scott Miller wrote:
| Quote: | Super magnets (AIUI) will not do a bulk erase od the disk.
Thermite works for me.
Damn, stole my favorite technique. Getting the thermite lit is the tough
part - magnesium helps for that. I figure what you really need is a ceramic
holder for the drive that'll keep the molten stuff in one place and turn the
whole thing into a lump of slag, rather than melting straight through.
You may want to remove the drive from the PC first, too.
|
At the shop where I sit, they have a plasma cutter. Much less messy than
thermite. ;-)
Cheers!
Rich |
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Dave VanHorn
Guest
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| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 6:11 am Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
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| Widlarize it. |
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me
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 5:24 pm Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
|
|
| Quote: | Damn, stole my favorite technique. Getting the thermite lit is the
tough part - magnesium helps for that. I figure what you really need
is a ceramic holder for the drive that'll keep the molten stuff in
one place and turn the whole thing into a lump of slag, rather than
melting straight through.
You may want to remove the drive from the PC first, too.
|
just put it all in a hole in the ground...
----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- |
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keith
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Feb 12, 2005 11:59 pm Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
|
|
On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 08:12:05 -0800, John Larkin wrote:
| Quote: | On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 09:07:46 -0500, Keith Williams <krw@att.bizzzz
wrote:
In article <cuhtl3$k7p$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk>, "Paul \( Skiing8
\)" <skiing@dodgit.com> says...
"John Larkin" <jjlarkin@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote in
message news:1i2o01ldnhn3e5d2pu30hno7rpdkvep2ks@4ax.com...
On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 20:58:03 GMT, "Greysky"
greyskynospam@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it
into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed
to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me
a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were
wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping
data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it
inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you
think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for
the
kids. Thanks.
Just bend the platters a tiny bit.
What's on them, anyhow?
John
be carefull, we had a drive and when we removed the cover and was in the
process of messing around with it the platter just shattered into a load of
shards, it was like glass. Sonds strange I know but thats exactly what it
was like
Probably because that what it was.
Well, then bending would take care of the data recovery problem.
|
So would folding, spindling, or mutilating.
--
Keith |
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TCS
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sun Feb 13, 2005 12:59 am Post subject:
Re: Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive? |
|
|
On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 19:18:23 -0500, Dave VanHorn <dvanhorn@dvanhorn.org> wrote:
and WTF is it to widlarize something? |
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