Re: Physically destroying hard drive data

Arno Wagner wrote:

> Previously control_z@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>> I have a bunch of old obsolete hard drives with somewhat sensitive
>> information on them I want to physically destroy and put in the
>> landfill.
>
>> Would shooting a couple .30 cal bullets through the hard drives
>> (being sure to penetrate the platters rather than just the outside
>> edges) prevent black hat hackers from recovering the data? I'd imagine
>> some 3-letter government agency could recover some of the data by
>> working on the holy platters, but I'm not worried about that, just
>> about CC numbers and stuff.
>
> Far easier: Open the HDD, remove the platters and just bend them.
> That makes it already extremely expensive and maybe impossible
> for most practical purposes to recover anything.
>
> If you are worried enough you can also blowtorch the platters, which
> makes recovery completely impossible (in the physically strong sense),
> since above a certain temperature the magnetisation is completely and
> irretrivably lost.
>
> Not opening the disk is risky, since you actually may fail to damage
> all platters, even with the .30 bullets.

If there's a hole in the top of the drive and a hole in the bottom, it's a
fair bet that all platters have been damaged.

I'd be very surprised if any .30 caliber firearm on the market was incapable
of penetrating completely through a disk drive.

> Arno

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Physically destroying hard drive data
    ... Arno Wagner wrote: ... >>> I have a bunch of old obsolete hard drives with somewhat sensitive ... >>> (being sure to penetrate the platters rather than just the outside ... >>> edges) prevent black hat hackers from recovering the data? ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage)
  • Re: Physically destroying hard drive data
    ... >> I have a bunch of old obsolete hard drives with somewhat sensitive ... >> information on them I want to physically destroy and put in the landfill. ... >> (being sure to penetrate the platters rather than just the outside ... > and maybe impossible for most practical purposes to recover anything. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage)
  • Re: Physically destroying hard drive data
    ... > I have a bunch of old obsolete hard drives with somewhat sensitive ... > information on them I want to physically destroy and put in the ... > (being sure to penetrate the platters rather than just the outside ... for most practical purposes to recover anything. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage)
  • Re: Physically destroying hard drive data
    ... > I have a bunch of old obsolete hard drives with somewhat sensitive ... > information on them I want to physically destroy and put in the ... > (being sure to penetrate the platters rather than just the outside ... but even I could not recover these. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage)
  • Re: Physically destroying hard drive data
    ... >> I have a bunch of old obsolete hard drives with somewhat sensitive ... >> (being sure to penetrate the platters rather than just the outside ... > I hate to admit it, but even I could not recover these. ... So you could recover if the acid is left out? ...
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