How to distroy a hard drive

[zx9]

Don't get me wrong I was not deleting any state secrets just cleaning my old computers before passing them on to charity to be reused.

IMHO everyone in going wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo far. I would pull out the drive (s) any decent sized ones keep and use in external drive cases for back ups the smaller ones say less than 500gb open the cases and nick the magnets, throw rest in bin / scrap / bury in the garden.

 

[julianf]

I don't have any direct links, but just googling 'recovery of securely deleted files' will get you loads of opinions

The more passes you do the harder it is...

To be fair, unless you're storing the much fabled "launch codes" I really don't think it's anything to be concerned about.

I think its something to do with alignment. As i understand it, you are adjusting the polarity of a section of drive surface. But it not as if this section is ring-fenced by non-magnetic material (so far as i know). So, if you do not re-adjust the atoms in the exact same area as the original data was stored in, somone with the right equipment can read around the area, and recover the original polarity state (ie the data)

But again, anything you do to the drive would render it dead in the eyes of virtually all of the population. Break one single trace on the controller board, and none is going to casually steal your data.

...i mean youre probably more likely, statistically, to be hit by a bus tomorrow, and then you wont give a stuff who looks at your porn! : )

 

[Stueeee]

You'll be surprised what is recoverable with the appropriate kit...

Oh no, here's one I did a week or so ago, Now I've got to expect to be hearing from a Nigerian prince in the next few days......

 

[rtbcomp]

I hope the punch is non-magnetic or you could corrupt the data.

 

[KemppiFrog]

How about visting N. Korea and waiting for the electro magnetic pulse that is coming soon?That should fix it!

 

[Spark plug]

How is the data stored on the platers is it in rings, sort of like a fancy record?

 

[Spark plug]

So if you cut the platters in half and disposed of each half seperatly you would be sorted?

 

[KemppiFrog]

So if you cut the platters in half and disposed of each half seperatly you would be sorted?

Think that dépends if half the data is enough to convict you Actually, I understand it is also in segments, so might be more complete in a 'half'. No doubt one of the techies will straighten me out in a nano second..

 

[KemppiFrog]

View attachment 113376

That's roughly how it is arranged.

Thank you, that is the image that I had in mind.
KF

 

[rtbcomp]

In the good old days disks were interleaved, ie data segments 1,2,3 & 4 may be written to the disk in physical segments 1, 3, 5 & 7 this is to allow the slower circuits to catch the next data segment as the disk spins, otherwise the disk will have spin 1 rev + 1 segment to catch the next data segment.

Not having worked on this type of gear for 20 years I'm guessing interleaving isn't required these days.

When files are written on a blank disk all the segments are in order, but if a file is deleted sectors become free and the next file fills up the free segments where the old file was and then any other unused segments. As files are written and deleted data becomes scattered around the disk as in the diagram above, this is called data fragmentation, this slows disk access down. Running a defragmenter program straightens them all out again, arranging free space and each file contiguously.

So if you cut the platters in half and disposed of each half seperatly you would be sorted?

You stand a better chance of getting data from half a disk if it's non-interleaved and just been defragmented.

 

[wookie]

As files are written and deleted data becomes scattered around the disk as in the diagram above, this is called data fragmentation, this slows disk access down. Running a defragmenter program straightens them all out again, arranging free space and each file contiguously.

It all depends on the operating system, Windows is known for scattering files in bits all across a disc, I've used other systems that deliberately save files in contiguous sectors whenever possible so you almost never need to de-frag the disc because the slowdown associated with a fragmented disc never occurs.

 

[outofthefire]

I think its something to do with alignment. As i understand it, you are adjusting the polarity of a section of drive surface. But it not as if this section is ring-fenced by non-magnetic material (so far as i know). So, if you do not re-adjust the atoms in the exact same area as the original data was stored in, somone with the right equipment can read around the area, and recover the original polarity state (ie the data)

That's pretty much how I understood it, it's like a shadow of the data gets left behind.

 

[Screwdriver]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that if you write a 1 over a 0 it leaves a slightly different "depth" for that data bit than if you write a 1 over a 1 etc. a forensic recovery system will analyse the precise level of the 1 or 0 and deduce the pervious state.

For my money I'd drill a couple of holes in it and lob it in a bin. If you go overboard you risk drawing attention to it...

<edit> hah. Typo! I think I'll leave it as is

 

[rcx132]

I just put mine in the hydraulic press, quick and cheap. Digital wiping takes a long time.

If you do want to wipe digitally you can do it direct from Windows, the following command works from the command terminal, it formats the drive writing zeros over each bit two times. Replace e: with the letter of the drive you are wiping.

format e: /fs:NTFS /p:2

 

[rcx132]

Also I noticed two sides to data security....

If you speak to a security consultant they will tell you your data is easily recovered from a wiped hard drive and you must use MIL standard data wiping software.
Go to a data recovery specialist, ask them to recover data you accidentally deleted, and they will tell you it's unlikely it can be recovered. As soon as any sectors that stored a file are written over it's not feasible to recover the file.

 

[brightspark]

63 posts ffs just stomp on it and chuck it in the bin its not as if its Garry glitters comp or the cia

 

[Barking Mat]

Post it to me, I'll let the kids play with it, it will be utterly ******** in 10 minutes.

 

[dobbslc]

You'll see in post 42 I have "mash it up" with a hammer!

 

[Barking Mat]

I quite enjoy taking hard disks apart. The spacers are great in bits of string for finding your keys, magnets great for attaching things to the fridge, and those shiny disks on an allotment for frightening off birds, quite brittle, smash easily. As Bright spark said FFS.

 

[rtbcomp]

It all depends on the operating system, Windows is known for scattering files in bits all across a disc, I've used other systems that deliberately save files in contiguous sectors whenever possible so you almost never need to de-frag the disc because the slowdown associated with a fragmented disc never occurs.

That makes sense.