Re: Hard Drive Destruct System?

From: Phil Fites (foxtrot_india_tango_echo_sierra__at_at_rogers._dotcom)
Date: 11/26/04 

Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2004 14:53:26 -0500

1. Open drive.
2. Remove platter(s)
3. Insert and ignite thermite. Or if you have access to an
appropriate grinder, powder it.

You're not likely to be able to force heads into contact in a
modern drive at all, certainly not for an extended period,
without opening it up. Once you open it, just grind or fry the
thing. No explosive gases to contend with, just aluminum and
rust powders and an igniter. And of course a safe disposal issue.

Unless you physically destroy the recording medium common
laboratory tools can recover information. Various erasure
patterns can do a very good job of protecting data from most
recovery methods and of course very minor physical damage will
stop a "normal" read, but there is no way to ensure complete
erasure even against a standard university electronics lab, let
alone someone with access to significant time and resources.

E. wrote:
> mike3 wrote:
>
>> Hi.
>>
>> Would this make a good mechanism to securely destroy a hard drive?
>>
>> 1. Crash the heads into the platters with the drive at top speed
>>
>> 2. Seek them from one edge of the platters to the other back and forth
>> to \
>> ensure good grinding
>>
>> 3. Pump a concentrated hydrogen/oxygen mix into the hard drive platter
>> chamber
>> while the heads are grinding away.
>>
>> Would the heat from the grinding be enough to ignite the H2/O2 mix and
>> ensure that data can't be recovered? Would this mechanism be good
>> enough to keep copies of a large company's trade secrets from a
>> competing large company?
>
>
> Open top of drive. Place open drive in plastic container. Pour in
> Coca-cola so drive is immersed. Leave for 4 days.
> E.

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