On 7/23/07, Robin Laing <Robin.Laing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Les Mikesell wrote: > Les wrote: > >> A straight magnet can mess it up a bit, but I don't know about total >> erasure. Generally degaussing takes an AC field, such as that from the >> degausing strip around a TV set or monitor (you degause tube type >> monitors and tv's to keep the color guns from being biased and giving >> fringes around the images). And a hard disk drive is "saturation" type >> recording, and some of the new ones use a very deep form of recording >> that is different from the surface recording done on magnetic tape. So >> if you wish to degauss a drive (remove all forms of data including >> formatting and bad sector stuff), then a very high strength degaussing >> platform is needed. Or a 5 lb or heavier hammer applied with gusto to >> the platters seems to do a pretty thorough job, unless you are >> discussing state secrets or the next advent of computing. > > Or use that hammer to drive a small steel punch all the way through the > drive. It's quick and someone would have to be pretty determined to get > any data back after that. > The newer platters are much harder as we found out when we tried to cut some drives up with a metal saw. To hard. I read an article of using "Coke" (I prefer Pepsi) and drill a few holes in the top of the case. Fill with Coke and let sit. Soon the surface of the platters are now etched. I was going through some old drives and destroying them. I ended up just drilling holes and soaking them in water. Destroyed the circuit boards with a hammer as well. It would be interesting what size of magnetic field is necessary to fully erase a drive still in it's case. I did find this.
Can you guys fork the thread if the topic is dead? Very early on it was established that the OP did not find a new use for Linux. -- Fedora Core 6 and proud
