easy, discrete way to destroy a hard drive?? 2

[ftechguy]

As I replace old computers with new, I'm stuck with old hard drives filled with company data that has to be destroyed. What is a simple, discrete way to do this?

I usually take a pair of pliers and destroy the interface and molex connector, then I open up the seal (usually a sticker that says "void if removed&quot and pour some soapy water inside to hopefully gum up the read heads. Is this enough?

An even better solution would not require me removing the drive from the system. Any ideas??


And a sledgehammer or shotgun is not considered discrete.

 

[edfair]

How about a pin punch and a regular hammer. At back of HDA punch thru the casing into the HDA far enough to bugger the platters. Or a small cold chisel.
If somebody was dedicated enough your soapy water would be about a 15 minute roadblock.
Everything but the platter is replacable.

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

 

[Peahippo]

As long as you don't mind spending time to setup an automated data destruction, which itself will take a lot more time but will not require you, then consider getting a disk wiping program.

The thing about data on hard disks drives is that it sits on a surface that is a relative of iron oxide, like most magnetic media. Then the tiny magnetic fields representing bits are arranged in lines, mostly linear along the surface, but I've heard of perpendicular fields too. To wipe away data, you have to randomize or standardize (0s, 1s or some pattern) these fields. Randomizing is probably a better method overall, but before you end up there, you have to "shake the tree" a bit.

You see, the trouble with magnetic fields on a surface of iron oxide, is that the little bastards can wander, and can also be placed in slightly varying lines (think of a wobble in your bicycle steering and how it affects the path you leave behind). Retracing your path on a bicycle is tough, isn't it? Hard disks have the same problem, although to much less of a degree.

The point of all my blather is that you have to throw a lot of patterned and randomized data at a hard disk in order to be sure that you've made the heads (the bicycle tire) go over essentially all the tracks (the tire paths) that it made in its lifetime. When you select a disk wiping program (Googling for them should be productive), be sure to obtain one that follows this philosophy.

 

[ftechguy]

Peahippo, Norton wipeinfo was the first thing I used but it simply takes too long--a 10gb drive could not even finish overnight. Therefore, I'm looking for a physical method to render the drive inaccessible. SHould've mentioned that first, my bad.

Something I was thinking of last night: since drives are magnetic, could a magnet or anything that emits em rad scramble the contents enough? How about the back end of a 21" CRT?

 

[dkdude]

Sounds like you're really serious about the physical way to destroy the old HDs. How about drilling a couple of holes all the way through the drive.

If that's not enough for you, then put it in a bucket of :

1/3 30% hydrochloric acid
1/3 30% hydrogen peroxide
1/3 water

This mix can be used to make circuit boards -it takes away all copper that is not protected by a special coating. The chemical process is quite active and can get hot. Beware of exhaust fumes -they're acidic!!!!!!!

That will damage all metal parts beyond any restoration in a couple of minutes...

If you go with the chemicals, then be careful -use all necessary safety precauctions.

Good luck §;O)


Jakob

 

[dkdude]

... one very important thing: The bucket must be made of plastic NOT metal... goes without saying, but still...


§;O)

 

[Peahippo]

If you don't remove the drive from the system, then you are entirely limited to data-wiping techniques, which take time. There is no time-saving "destruction" signal to destroy the metal oxide surface of the disk platters.

It seems that you don't accept data-wiping, so you must now use physical destruction techniques.

I reject chemical methods since those are messy and require opening the drive. And any guy can take a punch or sledge to the drive ... that lacks finesse. I propose "execution".

Capital Punishment for Hard Disk Drives

If you're like me and get kinda excited at the idea of building a device, then build a little "electric chair" for executing the drive. Take a spare power connector off of a dead computer or power supply, and hook up one side of line voltage (120vac) to the red and yellow leads (the old +5vdc and +12vdc lines), with the other side going to the black leads (the old ground lines). (You may wish to hookup the line ground to the structure of your chair.) Of course, you should have a breaker available at the chair, but you can find those on a power strip commonly, so just feed your chair from the strip and if the overcurrent pops the breaker, it's easy to reset (AFTER you remove the dead drive). Note well that your chair should have a rubber rest for the drive to sit on, since it won't be a good thing to electrify the chair in case it's touching something or someone it shouldn't.

(Don't forget to use one of those double knife-blade switches like you see in the movies. You can get one cheap from Radio Shack.)

Once setup, you can fry drive after drive with the assurance that the drive electronics are dead. Of course, this will do nothing to the disk platters, leaving data on them for recovery.

Last note: Wear safety glasses when executing drives. Semiconductor chips can go off like popcorn.

 

[ftechguy]

peahippo the mad scientist. hehe That's actually a neat idea and I like it. A bit excessive, but cool nonetheless.

Anyway, I opened up a drive to find weaknesses, but the platters were quite a bit more durable than I thought. It took considerable effort to break them with some pliers. I think the sledgehammer or drill will actually be the quickest and most effective now. Off to destruction!

 

[SYAR2003]

!!!!!!!!!!!!

KillDisk.

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

SYAR

 

[dkdude]

SYAR2003 : KillDisk -Nice and rude to any drive!!

Thanks for the excellent tip -consider yourself rewarded §;O)


Jakob

 

[mattjurado]

Thought I'd say, this is the most entertaining thread I've ever seen... Chemicals, shotguns, electrocution, oh my!

Matt J.

 

[pmonett]

How about a simple industrial magnet ? Wouldn't that be enough to completely jumble the bits one the platters into totally incoherent data ?
I mean, if those disks are still useable, wipe them and give them to charity or something. Destroying them seems a bit far fetched for protecting corporate data. There must be a middle point, no ?

Pascal.

 

[ceh4702]

Tech-tv had a guy on their staff construct a device with thermite that can destroy a hard drive in minutes. It is probably a bit extreme.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[zardiw]

You can make a dandy wind speed indicator out of an old harddrive (

http://www.otherpower.com/anemometer.html).

Use a welding torch to burn a hole all the way thru it.

Hit it with the pointy end of a rock hammer.

Drill a hole in the case and put in a good amount of muriatic with a turkey baster.

Software wiping would allow reuse, and recycling is a GOOD thing, right?

The platters make nice ornaments if you drill a small hole in the outside rim and hang it from a thread. They spin in the wind and look kinda cool.

A supermagnet(

http://www.wondermagnet.com)

passed over the platters PROBABLY would scramble all data..........z

Faster horses, yw, ow, mm.

 

[mainegeek]

Format it and just leave it in the PC un-attached if possible.

or....

Drill a hole through it. I would recommend using a drill press with a clamp to hold it down.

or....

Heat it with a torch which may warp the platters and also
cause "head sticktion".

Use proper eye protection.....

 

[spamhog]

Don't waste perfectly good hard disks!!!

Wiping data off electronically is very easy. You can reach an NSA lever of unrecoverability with just a bit of running time (multiple presudorandom overwrites), but just a couple of random passes + a good scrub of the partition table will be enough to stop the most aggressive non-government snoops.

Try Tinfoil Hat Linux. It's a security boot floppy that has an easy to use "wipe" function. Test it and see if your snoopiest techs can recover anything.

http://tinfoilhat.shmoo.com/

You may make that part of your standard PC decommissioning procedure in the future.


As for destroying HDs:

1) Waste, incl. waste of lifetime, is environmentally unholy. Recycling is NEVER 100%.

2) If you electrically zap the circuit when the drive is not in use, data will still be there. So if u're REALLY paranoid, be aware that a determined cracker can whiteroom data out anyway by installing new guts from the same drive type.

3) Industrial magnet: platters are shielded, so I am not sure that will do. There are purpose built magnet "combs" that will undo all surfaces at once, but they require opening the drive anyway, so it's wasted and dead.

4) Ok, you may wack or burn it. But may I suggest a 4th floor drop? While not discreet, it's sure to crush all glass platters and bend out of shate any aluminum ones. AND can be turned into an information security awareness enhancing corporate spectacle. Or you may turn it into a lunchtime precision bombing contest.



Filippo / spamhog
Computer Victim (as in "fashion victim&quot - Milan, North Poldavia -

http://filippo.ru.ru

40% WinME, 40% Linux (Debian, Libranet, Vector, Lycoris), 20% Win98, trace amounts of Win2k, xBSD, QNX