Destroy info on hardrive?

[Phu Cat]

Have read where info can be retrieved from a tiny bit of hardrive by someone with the right equipment.  I liked the 12 gauge at close range idea, but even that may not be sufficient.  Thought maybe I could burn it.  WRONG!  A propane torch not only doesn't melt the disc, the disc only got warm after trying to set it on fire.  How do I get rid of the info on this disc?

PC

[HarleyFranco]

Phu,

They make a deguasser(sp) that erases all the data, not having that I would think a good sledge hammer would do the trick as long as you'll never need the drive again.

Frank

[IBARider]

I'm sure someone can give a more qualified answer, but...

I've been told by IS guru's that simply drilling a hole through the thing will make it non retrievable...... If true, I'd make it a 1/2" bit....

[Phu Cat]

I've been told by IS guru's that simply drilling a hole through the thing will make it non retrievable...... Rider, wonder if that's still true.  Bet it was only a few years ago.  Suspect a small sliver of disc could contain someones Social as there's a lot of info in a small area.

What really gets me is why didn't the disc get hot after trying to set it on fire???

PC

[88-fxr]

Phu, there are several file "shredding" software programs available for download (~$20 or so) that will meet NSA standards for file destruction.  "ShredX for Windows" and "Search and Recover 3" are a couple of them, but there are others.  Do a google search.  Install the program in your main computer, hook up the old drive you want to shred to the main computer via a USB to IDE/SATA adapter, depending on the type of hard drive you want to shred.  Do an extreme secure shred of the drive and you're done.   You'll have to invest a little money, but the program and adapter can be used over & over AND the drive can be used again if needed.  (What's a little money to a Harley rider!?)  
dj

[aquaman]

Thermite will make it unreadable...

[CraigArizona85248]

If you've already opened the drive and applied heat, you won't be able to use software to wipe it.  The thing is pretty much garbage now.  If it was me, I would simple finish off the destruction process with a hammer.  Drilling a hole through the platters will only destroy a very small percentage of the data.  Yes, you won't be able to plug the drive in and use it.  But a sophisticated information theif could still retrieve almost everything.  It depends on valuable the data is and how bad they want it.  Many years ago I experimented with disk "wiping" programs.  Writing all 0xFFFFFFFF to every location, then 0x00000000, then 0x55555555, 0xAAAAAAAA, etc.  All in the attempt to wipe the drive clean.  We found that if the data had been stored on the drive for a very long period of time, that the 'bits' had a tendency to flip back to their old state when the disk was passed through a low intensity magnetic field.  Even after having been overwritten with all kinds of garbage we could retrieve a significant amount of data.

You really have to ask yourself "how valuable is the data" in order to figure out how diligent you should be in destroying it.  Most people these days are worried about identity theft.  Unless your identity is worth a whole lot more then someone other random person, it's not going to be worth a theifs time to go to extreme measures to retrieve your data.  There are way too many "easy" to steal identities out there.

-Craig

[springer-]

Phu, there are several file "shredding" software programs available for download (~$20 or so) that will meet NSA standards for file destruction.  "ShredX for Windows" and "Search and Recover 3" are a couple of them, but there are others.  Do a google search.  Install the program in your main computer, hook up the old drive you want to shred to the main computer via a USB to IDE/SATA adapter, depending on the type of hard drive you want to shred.  Do an extreme secure shred of the drive and you're done.   You'll have to invest a little money, but the program and adapter can be used over & over AND the drive can be used again if needed.  (What's a little money to a Harley rider!?)  
dj

If he has already tried to set it on fire I don't think any programs are going to help.

Understanding how a hard drive works would help with understanding why smashing it with a hammer will virtually make it impossible for data recovery.

When a file is stored on a hard drive it is usually stored in chunks that are dispersed throughout the hard drive platters.  This is called fragmenting.  When one defrags a hard drive it rearranges the data so that it is stored in less chunks or no chunks at all but rather in a continuous stream.  This makes it faster to read the data from the hard drive.  Those platters are spinning at 5400, 7200, 10K or even 15K RPM.  The drive read/write heads float on a cushion of air typically less than 3/10,000 ths of an inch off the platter.  As the platter spins the heads move in and out looking for specific spots on the hard where it knows the data it is looking for is located.  If all one had was a sliver of the platters surface, they would only have access to what was stored on that sliver, which would be merely a tiny fraction of a file or several files.  It would be virtually useless with out the rest of the data that belongs to that file.  And the ability to recover what little useless data that was left on that sliver is not easily available.  For even some of the best data recovery facilities, the platters have to be in near perfect to perfect condition.  Hard drives are assembled and recovered in clean rooms because even a single particle of smoke is enough to damage the surface of a platter.

Smashing it with a hammer would make it so even the Russians could not recover plans for world domination if they were stored on that drive.

[PoorUB]

A while back I was doing some HVAC work at a local bank and their IT guys were pulling drives out of computers and erasing them with an 8 pound BFH.

[dakota224]

Run it over with a Cat D-9

[dakota224]

or just burry it in the back yard with a bag of lime 

[FXDBI]

http://www.cyberscrub.com/

A drive cleaner like no other. Free trial with full function. You can use it to clean the space in use has well.
But if your tossing it smash it up after you drill it .  Your not hiding secrets for the CIA or something. 
If you are after you get the disc out melt it into a puddle     Bob

[02roadcling]

If it was mine I would eat beans tonight and cover it in the morning. Nobody would want it after that. 

[fxstdavew]

pull it out and cut it  up with with tin snips

[Princess Butt]

What's the data worth, and are there easier targets for the thieves to pursue?

Chances are, if you hammer it, throw it in the fire for an hour, and submerge it in acid, then the average thief will go look for something better.

If it's our wonderful government trying to find out if you've been bad, then they'll find a way to get the data, at taxpayer expense, no matter how much it cost or how long it takes. Gotta keep government personnel "employed" (not necessarily "productive")

Don't count on the Russian Military to do it for their own purposes. Now, if that Russian Military computer specialist is like anyone else working for the Russian Government, he'll find a way to get the data, then sell it to someone who can use it.....

BnEUC

[Phu Cat]

Thanks everyone.  It sounds like taking the disc to work and having a welder put some serious heat on it, then running it thru a strong magnetic field should render any info on it useless.

I don't have a lot, but having been an MP in the service makes me suspicious of what could happen.  Have made so many mistakes by not being careful enough in the past that now that I'm getting ready to give up the best paying job I've ever had I should protect what little I have accumulated.  And there are so many criminals out there just waiting for someone to get careless!

PC

[Dennis The Menace]

Our company degausses and drills many holes in our disk platters, and the platters are discarded in different, unspecified, locations at varying time intervals.  It would be nearly impossible for someone to rebuild the data on these drives.

The average thief wont mess with your drive, PC, if you disassemble the drive and seperate the platters from the enclosure.  Unlike our company, I doubt your disks hold information about trillions of dollars in accounts, or PII data for half the world on them.

menace

[GLFLSTCI02]

When we have a BIG bonfire here I chuck in any old drives that we want to get rid of. After 30 or 40 hours of intense heat those things are trash.

Gene

[Phu Cat]

The propane torch didn't phase the disc as far as I could see, but the acetylene's torch melted it into uselessness!

PC

[RK101]

I've beat the snot out of a few with a framing hammer. Seems to work pretty well. Looked like trash to me. 

[f-x-d-w-g]

Have ya ever put a CDROM in the microwave?  I wonder what a disk platter would look like afterwards...

[96dynabagger]

Heat it to 1400 degrees and the disks will lose their magnetic properties and your data.
Toss it in a fire with hot coals and let it cook for a while.

I just used a big hammer on mine.  Opened her up and bent the platters good.
As long as its open, a torch would really finish it off.  Just a few screws to remove the cover...

[Milehog]

It might be fun to see what an electric welder could do to the disk.