Thread: How to Destroy a Hard Disk

Originally Posted by Dug

what about bloody big magnet?

Best I could find is a 2" magnet that mrs uses to enthrall the kids with feats of basic physics.

Thanks all, it seems salt water is good enough and the world will endure.

Fire.

Originally Posted by keda

Hardly worth a red, but does show what a sad fcuker you are, deep, deep down.

hardly, just asking obvious question and I am afraid I am probably not the only one wondering about such a paranoiac act

so again why are you so desperate to destroy certain "evidence" on your hard drive ?

Originally Posted by keda

Hardly worth a red,

and yet,

How to Destroy a Hard... 18-08-2010 04:05 PM keda retard

Beer, lots and lots of beer. I've erased loads of my memories using beer over the years so if it works on something as complicated as the human body then its sure to work on a disc. Changs probably the best.

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

Beer, lots and lots of beer. I've erased loads of my memories using beer over the years so if it works on something as complicated as the human body then its sure to work on a disc. Changs probably the best.

Can't use beer, the drive is halal.......

There are applications that write rubbish to all sectors and then mess up the boot sector, but hey, this isn't important enough for you to plug the thing back in, by definition if you don't have the time to do that, then maybe the data isn't so important. - I would doubt very much that salt water would do much to the platters unless you prize the cases open.

With enough money if the platter physically exists then data could be lifted.

If they can't find it, then they can't lift data off of it.

Originally Posted by keda

Thanks all, it seems salt water is good enough and the world will endure.

That is certainly good enough if you want to stop curious neighbours or garbage collectors. If your wife looks for evidence for a divorce as little as 10.000 Baht may be enough to give her the data.

For plugging the drive back in to erase the data it is now too late.

you can secure format the HDD, software like truecrypt does it, it works by writing over every sector with 0s, and it does it 25 times. However it will probably take half a day to overwrite all your bestiality porn and god knows what else you got on there

You could of course by a couple of cheap enclosures from Panthip and use the drives as external storage.

Originally Posted by mc2

you can secure format the HDD, software like truecrypt does it, it works by writing over every sector with 0s, and it does it 25 times.

Or he cannot. From the OP

Originally Posted by keda

At the moment they look sad at the bottom of a bowl of water, for some reason with salt added.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

You could of course by a couple of cheap enclosures from Panthip and use the drives as external storage.

Thats what I always do with my old HDDs. Why waste it for nothing ?

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Originally Posted by keda

Hardly worth a red, but does show what a sad fcuker you are, deep, deep down.

hardly, just asking obvious question and I am afraid I am probably not the only one wondering about such a paranoiac act

so again why are you so desperate to destroy certain "evidence" on your hard drive ?

Originally Posted by keda

Hardly worth a red,

and yet,

How to Destroy a Hard... 18-08-2010 04:05 PM keda retard

<sigh> Try reading why, it's posted.

Originally Posted by Stalking Tosser

Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince

Beer, lots and lots of beer. I've erased loads of my memories using beer over the years so if it works on something as complicated as the human body then its sure to work on a disc. Changs probably the best.

Can't use beer, the drive is halal.......

There are applications that write rubbish to all sectors and then mess up the boot sector, but hey, this isn't important enough for you to plug the thing back in, by definition if you don't have the time to do that, then maybe the data isn't so important. - I would doubt very much that salt water would do much to the platters unless you prize the cases open.

With enough money if the platter physically exists then data could be lifted.

If they can't find it, then they can't lift data off of it.

If I were bothered to open up and plug in to format, there would be no need for this thread. Couldn't be arsed, drives were surplus, now they're a bit wet.

Btw buttfrier, if it were heavy duty "evidence" as your putrid mind imagine, their remains after therapy would be quietly distributed between one and two km due west; and there would be no thread. Painful, I know, but go figure.

Originally Posted by mc2

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

You could of course by a couple of cheap enclosures from Panthip and use the drives as external storage.

Thats what I always do with my old HDDs. Why waste it for nothing ?

I have externals; maybe could've given them to a local nerd in return for monitored format and future assistance, too late now.

Originally Posted by keda

I have externals

See a doctor.

No, it is not enough. As a lawyer, I've seen and heard testimony about the kind of software and specialty devices the police (government) have to recover data off hard drives, even data that has been deleted and drives that have been physically damaged. Microsoft even donates these products to law enforcement and governments for free. If your privacy is that important or your freedom is at stake, disassemble them, get the actual hard discs out and pulverize them into powder.

Fry them.

So does this mean that your computers hard drive would probably survive a house fire?

Not if they got burned to a cinder, they wouldn't. Would you house burn hot enough to melt metal?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Would you house burn hot enough to melt metal?

Don't really know. Would have thought not. The only reason I asked was because I was in an office fire once and thought about trying to save my laptop. I didn't bother, I just made a run for it. Luckily the fire was out before it reached my office. But If you can recover the work anyway, if it happens again I won't waste those precious seconds trying to make my mind up.

Melting metal would not be required. It is enough to reach the temperature where the magnetization disappears. But I am not sure which temperature that is.

My guess is the magnetization would survive the average house fire. If you then disassemble the drive, put the disks into a working drive of the same kind it may just work. Or better replace that "you" with "an expert".

Ever read this signature?

"Don't remind me of the embarassing fact that all my backups are on the same planet."

Another few decades and they probably won't need to be.

Bored so found this

The Power Tool Method
3. DATA IS GONE, HARD DRIVE IS TOAST
There is no better way to completely annihilate your data than to render the device that stores it unusable. We still suggest a software shredder first, but if your personal data security justifies the extra effort, put on protective eyewear and gloves, then break out the power tools. Drilling four holes through the platters will ensure that they never spin properly again. Better yet, unscrew and remove the top lid of the drive, and go at the platters with a sander or angle grinder. Scuff the surface of the platters until all the shine is gone.

and this

using what storage experts call a "block-erasure utility" such as Darik's Boot and Nuke (available for free). DBAN overwrites each block on a computer's hard drive several times -- up to standard levels specified for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the U.S. Department of Defense.

An original though? If the object is to destroy the surface of the disk what about dunking the whole thing in a container of battery acid. Battery acid is readily available here.

Has anybody suggested a 10lb sledge hammer and a hard surface?