2009/1/8 Stephen Rowles <step...@rowles.org.uk>: >> >> We've talked in the past about secure data erasure, using things like DBAN >> which use wiping algorithms approved by the US DoD. The BBC news website >> is >> carrying a story today encouraging people to get physical and smash their >> drives. Now, whilst I can see that putting a hard disk that has come >> straight from a computer on ebay, or one that has been trivially formatted >> or had files "erased" is probably a risk, is it really worth getting >> people >> to attack their hard drives with hammers? (Never mind the Health & Safety >> implications!) >> >> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7816446.stm >> > > Maybe I'm ultra paranoid, but I've always gone for a full wipe.. and then > physically smashed up the disk :) > > I remove and destroy the circuit board, then open the drive up and use a > chisel / hammer to physically mangle the drive platters.
So maybe I'm being the opposite of ultra paranoid (infra paranoid?) - I keep my disk platters as coasters. They soon collect enough scratches from tea/coffee mugs that re reading them would be non trivial. Of course we have had these discussions before and as I recall one position was that the only time a disk platter is completely safe is when it has been reduced to slag in a furnace. And I expect someone somewhere is working on that. I'm sure that if someone were sufficiently determined they could recover something from the bag of "smithereens" - after all, all that hitting a metal disk with a hammer is doing is bending it rather extremely. -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --------------------------------------------------------------
