Bulk tape eraser on HDD's?

[penguinroundup]

I have a bunch of old HDD's I need to wipe out (that have already been removed from their machines).

I also have a Benjamin bulk tape eraser that's been sitting around collecting dust. Am I correct in assuming I can use the "tape" eraser to wipe the HDD's?? How long should I leave the drives sit on the eraser? (I don't have the manual for it any more, so I apologize if this is a dumb question).

thanks

 

[edfair]

Tape eraser will handle floppies but not hard drives.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[rvnguy]

causemaker,

While you will probably render the data not readable, you will probably render the drive as un-useable also.

Tape cartridges have little to no mechanical parts. HD's on the other hand contain many mechanical parts. The metal enclosure of the HD might also interfere with erasure and opening it in a non-cleanroom environ invites failure.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[pansophic]

You'll be better off taking a copy of Darik's Boot And Nuke disk, attaching each of these drives to a computer with no other hard disk, and wiping them electronically.

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

The amount of energy required to write to a hard disk is very high. The magnetic field created by all of the tape erasers that I have used in my life probably won't render a hard disk unreadable unless you actually laid it on the physical medium, and if you are going to take the disks apart, you may as well just smash the platters.


pansophic