[SLE] need to make sure data is gone ...
On 1/19/06, Mark A. Taff
On Thursday 19 January 2006 10:40, Deep Thinker wrote:
Hello all,
I am in the process of moving and I want to get rid of (sell, donate, give away) all of my old spare parts and self made boxes. I have about 20 hard drives of various sizes and I need to get rid of them as well. My question is, how can I make absolutely sure that all the data has been erased from those drives before I give them away.
The drives all came from clients that I did upgrades for and they did not want to keep the old systems. I have no idea which drives have sensitive information on them and which ones do not.
Thanks for any suggestions in advance.
-- d33p th1nk3r
They only way to make 100% sure the data is unrecoverable is to physically melt the aluminum platters, either in a furnace, or perhaps with an oxy-acetylene torch.
The reason for this is that regardless of how to rewrite BS data to the drive, old copies of the data can be recovered using a scanning tunneling microscope from the magnetic molecules at the periphery of each bit.
To eliminate this, you have to completely destroy the order of the disk, and that requires changing the physical state of the metal in the disk platters.
If you have a mechanic friend, I suggest you grab some beer, and make a party of torching to drives!
Mark
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Yeah, he's pretty much got it there. Of course, there are ways to try and hide the information well enough (I've seen government-provisioned programs that overwrite disks bit-by-bit 4 or 5 times), but all the info will still be there...like a ghost, forever haunting the disks... Hah, so you can go GhostBuster-postal on the disks if you don't feel the need to make money off of them. ~Myles
Donald Musser wrote:
They only way to make 100% sure the data is unrecoverable is to physically melt the aluminum platters, either in a furnace, or perhaps with an oxy-acetylene torch.
The reason for this is that regardless of how to rewrite BS data to the drive, old copies of the data can be recovered using a scanning tunneling microscope from the magnetic molecules at the periphery of each bit.
To eliminate this, you have to completely destroy the order of the disk, and that requires changing the physical state of the metal in the disk platters.
Yeah, he's pretty much got it there. Of course, there are ways to try and hide the information well enough (I've seen government-provisioned programs that overwrite disks bit-by-bit 4 or 5 times), but all the info will still be there...like a ghost, forever haunting the disks...
Hah, so you can go GhostBuster-postal on the disks if you don't feel the need to make money off of them.
"Ghostbuster" is a pretty good description of that theoretical possibility. If you want to try to actually piece together information that way, you would probably have a better yield to filter the Themse for gold. After some hundred years you might have some gram of gold! Though, If you are the least bit in doubt about security for whatever reasons, just destroy the data discs of the hdds physically as thorough as possible. Sandy -- List replies only please! Please address PMs to: news-reply2 (@) japantest (.) homelinux (.) com
Sandy Drobic wrote:
Donald Musser wrote:
They only way to make 100% sure the data is unrecoverable is to physically melt the aluminum platters, either in a furnace, or perhaps with an oxy-acetylene torch.
The reason for this is that regardless of how to rewrite BS data to the drive, old copies of the data can be recovered using a scanning tunneling microscope from the magnetic molecules at the periphery of each bit.
To eliminate this, you have to completely destroy the order of the disk, and that requires changing the physical state of the metal in the disk platters.
Yeah, he's pretty much got it there. Of course, there are ways to try and hide the information well enough (I've seen government-provisioned programs that overwrite disks bit-by-bit 4 or 5 times), but all the info will still be there...like a ghost, forever haunting the disks...
Hah, so you can go GhostBuster-postal on the disks if you don't feel the need to make money off of them.
would a high powered electro-magnet not completely wipe out a disc's recoverability? It was always my impression that it would. Mike
On 1/19/06 5:43 PM, "Mike Katz"
would a high powered electro-magnet not completely wipe out a disc's recoverability? It was always my impression that it would.
Can't say, but I once sat a large mag-mount CB antenna (K40) on top of a drive (SCSI 2.1 gig) to try to wipe it (or at least corrupt it). It sat on it for a good 30+ hours. Didn't work - drive booted as normal with all fines showing up fine. :( I figured it should have worked. Guess I was wrong. -- Thanks, George ``One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know,``''Animal Crackers,'' 1930.
If you live anywhere near salt water, simply take the drive apart, so it is no longer water-proof, and throw it in the drink. Nothing metallic survives salt water very long. And who would dive for the drives anyway? --dm -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.14.21/235 - Release Date: 1/19/2006
Doug McGarrett wrote:
If you live anywhere near salt water, simply take the drive apart, so it is no longer water-proof, and throw it in the drink. Nothing metallic survives salt water very long. And who would dive for the drives anyway?
Well, Bill Gates used to dumpster dive, to get source code. Maybe he still does? ;-)
On Thu, 2006-01-19 at 23:09 -0500, Doug McGarrett wrote:
If you live anywhere near salt water, simply take the drive apart, so it is no longer water-proof, and throw it in the drink. Nothing metallic survives salt water very long. And who would dive for the drives anyway?
Ever hear of pollution? Glad I don't live near you. -- Ken Schneider UNIX since 1989, linux since 1994, SuSE since 1998
On Thursday 19 January 2006 10:09 pm, Doug McGarrett wrote:
If you live anywhere near salt water, simply take the drive apart, so it is no longer water-proof, and throw it in the drink. Nothing metallic survives salt water very long. And who would dive for the drives anyway?
--dm
Almost all computer parts are considered hazardous waste in almost all countries on this planet. Improper disposal is not a solution. You are probably correct about salt water destroying the drives. Please don't advocate polluting our planet for personal convenience like this. Stan
On Thu, 2006-01-19 at 18:58 -0500, James Knott wrote:
Donald Musser wrote:
Hah, so you can go GhostBuster-postal on the disks if you don't feel the need to make money off of them.
Or you could label them "Fragile" and mail them somewhere. ;-)
Only if your using the USPS. Our postal service can find a way to break anything. -- ___ _ _ _ ____ _ _ _ | | | | [__ | | | |___ |_|_| ___] | \/
participants (9)
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Carl William Spitzer IV -
Donald Musser -
Doug McGarrett -
James Knott -
Ken Schneider -
Mike Katz -
Sandy Drobic -
Stan Glasoe -
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