Best Methods Of Data Destruction On Computer Hard Disk
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register. Did you miss your activation email?


Britec Computer Tech Help Support Forums  « Hardware Support  « Hard Drive Support  « Best Methods Of Data Destruction On Computer Hard Disk
Pages: [1]
« previous next »
  Print  
Author Topic: Best Methods Of Data Destruction On Computer Hard Disk  (Read 1201 times)
darkknightza
Newbie
*
Posts: 17


View Profile
« on: February 24, 2011, 08:34:28 AM »
Are there any other options?

I believe that physical destruction is the quickest and simplest approach. By removing the top plate of a hard disk drive, you limit the chances of recovering the data due to dust and other contaminants affecting the drives platters (where your data is stored). Physically scoring lines or drilling holes into the platter will hopefully destroy the data beyond any reasonable doubt.

The concept of shredding paper to deter criminals using printed material such as bank statements or bills for identity theft and forgery has now been taken to the next level. Available now is an industrial tape and hard disk shredder. If you search within Google "GSA Industrial Tape and Hard Drive Destroyer 380/500" you will witness the future when it comes to data destruction.

This powerful machine, whilst not commercially viable for the home user, would suit any large company where data destruction was crucial to their intellectual electronic property. Using this machine would render data retrieval practically impossible. I cannot imagine a point in the future where we would be able to reconstruct the data from shredded material.

Obviously this method would mean a user couldn't resell their hard drive. However as the cost of hard disk drives decrease year in year out, is the cost of another hard drive really an issue?

To summarise, the benefit using the software or hardware approach would be: reusability and the chance to recoup some money. The disadvantages would include the 'risk' involved by relying on software or hardware to completely destroy your data. Another disadvantage would be the time consumption and costs involved, including electricity and human resources.

The main advantage of using a hard disk shredder is that complete 100% destruction can be witnessed. The destruction can take as little as 30 seconds. The main disadvantage is that such machines are currently not widely available. As the disks cannot be reused it is not an environmentally friendly approach. The last disadvantage is that the costs involved outweigh those of a software approach.
Logged
iisjman07
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 52


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2011, 10:17:28 PM »
DBAN is still a good tool; it may be hugely slower than hardware based methods and doesn't do anything about remapped sectors which could potentially hold tiny ammounts of information, but for most it's adequate
Logged
Britec
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 3490



View Profile
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2011, 03:59:45 AM »
DBAN was not designed for the large drives that we have today and running it on a very large drive with writes of 0's and 1's to the drive 7-8 times would take forever and putting large wear and tear on the drive.

Even if you take a hammer to the drive and put a screw driver through it, someone can still get data off it if they want to. I know that even if you write 0's and 1's to the drive 7-8 times, there's still the possibility that someone can get data off it but regulations require us to do atleast write 0's and 1's to each drive 5-6 times before we dispose of it or get rid of it.

Here's the 100% foolproof solution:
Take the drive apart and remove the platters.... It's not that difficult, but you will need some small tools, like a small screwdriver, and/or a small torx driver. Then take 100 grit sandpaper and sand off the oxide coating until you have bare, shiny aluminum platters. Note that some of the new high-density coatings looks shiny, so be sure you get all of the coating off & get down to the bare metal.

This method will wipe the drive 100% but its a bit extreme and alot of work.

You could also bend the platters then run a heavy magnet over the surface. This will make all data unrecoverable.

and here is my last tip What temperature does aluminum melt? 660.32 °C

So you could remove platters and burn them which will make data unrecoverable.
Logged


iisjman07
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 52


View Profile
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2011, 01:24:26 AM »
Quote from: Britec on February 25, 2011, 03:59:45 AM
Here's the 100% foolproof solution:


Much quicker and more fun:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ckechIqW0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ckechIqW0</a>
« Last Edit: March 06, 2011, 03:13:11 AM by Britec » Logged
Britec
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 3490



View Profile
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2011, 03:14:36 AM »
Holly shit thats thermite, a bit over the top for hard drives  Laugh
Logged


BJseal91
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 699



View Profile
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2011, 05:30:05 PM »
Totally disroyed
Laugh
Would not want to mess with you or recover that hard disk bit extreame but thanks for the vidio gave me a gigle

BJseal91
Logged
allis
Newbie
*
Posts: 23


View Profile
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2011, 03:59:17 PM »

Quote
sudo dd if=/dev/zero bs=1 of=/dev/sda1 | sudo xxd -a | grep -v "0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000"


Source: http://informatici.esperti.com/post/2009/03/16/Sterilizzazione-di-un-hard-disk

You could translate it with google, but keep in mind that google translates badly some important technical details, like in/out (if - in file) (of - out file) if/of, etc..

Very interesting article!

Bye. ^^
Logged
Pages: [1]
  Print  
« previous next »
 
Jump to: