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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

"Ignoramus23924" wrote in message
...
I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks


Reminds me of the ex girlfriend of one of my buddies back when Radio Shack
had a real computer push. She was their computer guru. Usually she asked
me or my buddy for help with anything as we were real computer nerds back
then. One day she didn't ask us when she decided to erase an old Seagate
MFM hard drive with a mag tape bulk eraser. When she powered it up you
could hear that drive screaming 4 shops down the walkway in the mall.



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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On Wed, 25 May 2011 10:30:08 -0500, Ignoramus23924
wrote:

I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks



Not nearly strong enough for succesful erasure. Severe mechanical
destruction is the only safe way,

A pickaxe stroke strong enough to both penetrate and
mechanically distort the disk platter is a good start.

CD / DVD destruction is much easier see http://flic.kr/p/9LRLva

Jim
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On 5/25/2011 10:30 AM, Ignoramus23924 wrote:
I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks


Take them outside, put them on a concrete sidewalk, give them 2-3 good
hits with a sledgehammer. Drives made in the last ~10 years have
tempered-glass platters that will shatter totally. Drives older than
that have metal platters, but if they can't spin, they won't work. (Also
if the controller circuit board gets smashed up, only the manufacturer
probably has the ability to get or make a new one)

Then you can just toss them in the trash -- but the frames of many are
aluminum, if you recycle.

-------

If you want to erase a working drive completely, just hook it up as a
slave drive, get a random-over-writer like Eraser and do a 1X random
over-write of the entire drive. Or go 3X if you want to get crazy, but
nothing more is needed. It's not difficult, it doesn't take that long
and you can have that going while still using the computer.
http://eraser.heidi.ie/

Eraser is free and has a bunch of overwrite options, from 1 to 35
passes--but if you look at the list, you will see that many government
and military standards are only a 3x random overwrite.

,,,,,,

The way that most OS's restore previous versions of files is by an
operating system feature, not by any technical aspect of the drives
themselves. The OS does this by writing each new version at a different
space on the drive. If you randomly-overwrite the whole drive even just
once, ALL the versions will get corrupted.

If even just the /previous/ drive write (in any single location) could
possibly be recovered in any easy way with only the drive's own
read/write hardware, then the drive would have 2X the capacity that it
really does, and the hard drive companies would be capitalizing on that.
And they're not.
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

Ignoramus23924 wrote:

I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

It shouldn't really matter. Is the data on them important enough to
anybody for them to bother to go to the trouble to read it anyway?

If they were mine, I'd take the bandsaw to them. Or crush them.

But just opening the cover and scraping the disk with a screwdriver
will do it.

And to me, it'd be a heck of a lot more fun crushing them in the press
than running a silly lil' ol' demagnetizer over them, which probably
wouldn't have any effect anyway, since the steel covers will "short out"
the magnetic field.

Have Fun!
Rich



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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

DougC wrote:

On 5/25/2011 10:30 AM, Ignoramus23924 wrote:
I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.


Take them outside, put them on a concrete sidewalk, give them 2-3 good
hits with a sledgehammer.


If you do this, put some kind of backer plate under them so you don't
chip or crack the concrete.

Good Luck!
Rich

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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On 2011-05-25, Bob La Londe wrote:
"Ignoramus23924" wrote in message
...
I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks


Reminds me of the ex girlfriend of one of my buddies back when Radio Shack
had a real computer push. She was their computer guru. Usually she asked
me or my buddy for help with anything as we were real computer nerds back
then. One day she didn't ask us when she decided to erase an old Seagate
MFM hard drive with a mag tape bulk eraser. When she powered it up you
could hear that drive screaming 4 shops down the walkway in the mall.




Hard drives have very powerful magnets in them.

i
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

Ignoramus23924 wrote:

I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks


My brother uses a 1" neodymium magnet to find conduit and nails in walls. He is an
electrician. One day he forgot the magnet was in his pocket and picked up his laptop that
was running on batteries. He said that as the laptop came near his pocket he heard the
windows shutdown song and his laptop never booted completely again.

Using Spinrite to look at various cylinders on the disk, I determined he wiped a number of
cylinders out in an instant.

I suspect that if you power up the drive and use a similar sized magnet and do a slow wipe
with the magnet on top and bottom of drive that disk will be dead forever.

I hope you are not involved in anything that requires that level of paranoia. A hit with
a hammer on the controller board would be enough to stop the curious at the landfill.

I have a pile of drives I need to kill for good practice, I'm going to mine them for
magnets. That might be a good job for your son. Give him some torx screwdrivers and tell
him to take them apart and find the magnets. By the time he is done, that drive will be
dead enough unless the FBI or CIA wants you for something.


Wes
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

Is it a security issue ? - a few screws takes off the back and
then you just bend the platter(s). Easy.

Martin

On 5/25/2011 10:30 AM, Ignoramus23924 wrote:
I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks



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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On Wed, 25 May 2011 13:06:37 -0500, DougC
wrote:

On 5/25/2011 10:30 AM, Ignoramus23924 wrote:
I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks


Take them outside, put them on a concrete sidewalk, give them 2-3 good
hits with a sledgehammer. Drives made in the last ~10 years have
tempered-glass platters that will shatter totally. Drives older than
that have metal platters, but if they can't spin, they won't work. (Also
if the controller circuit board gets smashed up, only the manufacturer
probably has the ability to get or make a new one)

Then you can just toss them in the trash -- but the frames of many are
aluminum, if you recycle.

-------

If you want to erase a working drive completely, just hook it up as a
slave drive, get a random-over-writer like Eraser and do a 1X random
over-write of the entire drive. Or go 3X if you want to get crazy, but
nothing more is needed. It's not difficult, it doesn't take that long
and you can have that going while still using the computer.
http://eraser.heidi.ie/

Eraser is free and has a bunch of overwrite options, from 1 to 35
passes--but if you look at the list, you will see that many government
and military standards are only a 3x random overwrite.

,,,,,,

The way that most OS's restore previous versions of files is by an
operating system feature, not by any technical aspect of the drives
themselves. The OS does this by writing each new version at a different
space on the drive. If you randomly-overwrite the whole drive even just
once, ALL the versions will get corrupted.

If even just the /previous/ drive write (in any single location) could
possibly be recovered in any easy way with only the drive's own
read/write hardware, then the drive would have 2X the capacity that it
really does, and the hard drive companies would be capitalizing on that.
And they're not.


Indeed. Very well stated.

Gunner, posting from a restaurant via cellphone hooked to cell phone


Whenever a Liberal utters the term "Common Sense approach"....grab your
wallet, your ass, and your guns because the sombitch is about to do
something damned nasty to all three of them.
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

Martin Eastburn wrote:
The strong magnetic field might destroy the heads themselves.
They are tiny and use very small wire in the loop.

Martin

On 5/25/2011 6:52 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 25 May 2011 17:55:35 -0500, Ignoramus23924
wrote:

On 2011-05-25, Bob La wrote:
id wrote in message
...
I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks

Reminds me of the ex girlfriend of one of my buddies back when Radio
Shack
had a real computer push. She was their computer guru. Usually she
asked
me or my buddy for help with anything as we were real computer nerds
back
then. One day she didn't ask us when she decided to erase an old
Seagate
MFM hard drive with a mag tape bulk eraser. When she powered it up you
could hear that drive screaming 4 shops down the walkway in the mall.




Hard drives have very powerful magnets in them.

i

Yes, but the flux of the head positioning magnets is very carefully
controlled so that NONE of it flows through or across the platters,
and NONE of it influences the read and write heads. The flux of those
strong magnets is concentrated through the gap where the "voice coil"
actuator armature works.



And easily replaced (my NSA level techs).

I'm thinking that if the magnet is stron enough to grab the drive
from several inches away, whatever was written on it is toast.

Unless it's the NSA level techs who are interested.

Then YOU are toast...



--

Richard Lamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~sv_temptress
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2011-05-25, Ignoramus23924 wrote:
I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.


Likely not strong enough to *securely* erase the data. It might
weaken things enough so the computer would have difficulty reading the
disk, but for someone taking serious data-recovery measures, they would
have no trouble.

Note that the tape degausser for 9-track data tapes which I have
has poles above and below the tape (so the field goes right through the
tape), and the tape reel is spun between the poles while the platform
slowly moves out so the whole of the tape passes between the poles.

And -- there is a series capacitor in the tape degausser
connected to resonate with the inductance of the coils (at 60 Hz, of
course) to maximize the field (with a warning of extreme voltages within
the case) -- so unless your industrial demagnetizer is constructed on
similar lines, the odds are that it will not do very well at all.

And -- I'm not sure about the coercivity of the media in the
drives -- it may take a stronger field than the old mag tapes took.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.


Give the kid(s) some torx screwdrivers, and a challenge to strip
each drive as far down as they can -- saving the metric screws, and the
bearings, and especially the head servo magnets. Most kids love to take
things apart, especially male kids.

Or -- take them down to your favorite outdoor shooting range,
and see how many stacked up drives you can send various calibers
through. If you get through all of them in a single shot, you have
securely erased them *very* quickly.

Or -- if you have always wanted to play with thermite, put each
drive under a pile of thermite, and light it off. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.



DON! What have you been hiding???



--

Richard Lamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~sv_temptress
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On 2011-05-26, Gunner Asch wrote:
Gunner, posting from a restaurant via cellphone hooked to cell phone


How exactly are they hooked?


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On Wed, 25 May 2011 23:28:02 -0500, Ignoramus23924
wrote:

On 2011-05-26, Gunner Asch wrote:
Gunner, posting from a restaurant via cellphone hooked to cell phone


How exactly are they hooked?


Google Android + tether

Via charging/data port on cell phone

Gunner

Whenever a Liberal utters the term "Common Sense approach"....grab your
wallet, your ass, and your guns because the sombitch is about to do
something damned nasty to all three of them.
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On May 25, 11:30*am, Ignoramus23924 ignoramus23...@NOSPAM.
23924.invalid wrote:
I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks


Drill a hole through the critter and shatter the platters.

If I had a bunch I'd make up a quick set of 1/4 or 1/8 inch punches
for my dake arbor press, set up like a spot welder- hold the platter
between the punches, pull the lever until you hear "crunch", repeat.

Of course you can never have enough head control magnets...


Dave
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On Wed, 25 May 2011 23:28:02 -0500, Ignoramus23924
wrote:

On 2011-05-26, Gunner Asch wrote:
Gunner, posting from a restaurant via cellphone hooked to cell phone


How exactly are they hooked?


I believe he meant to say "laptop hooked to a cell phone", Ig.

--
Education should provide the tools for a widening and deepening
of life, for increased appreciation of all one sees or experiences.
It should equip a person to live life well, to understand what is
happening around him, for to live life well one must live life with
awareness. -- Louis L'Amour
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

A little slow there?

"cellphone" is a noun. "cell phone" is a noun and an adjective (descriptive
noun)

---------

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
I believe he meant to say "laptop hooked to a cell phone", Ig.

--
Education - get some

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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On 2011-05-25, Ignoramus23924 wrote:
I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks


Thanks to all.

Just a little update.

I did put them on a demagnetizer, just in case. Then I destroyed them
in a press.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Hard-Drives.jpg

i


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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On 26 May 2011 23:33:42 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2011-05-26, wrote:
On Wed, 25 May 2011 19:57:44 -0500, Ignoramus23924
wrote:

On 2011-05-26,
wrote:

[ ... ]

Or the band saw. Half should be good enough, quarter if you are
paranoid.

Not if the platters are made of glass.

i

Better than 90% are aluminum. Of all the drives I've destroyed over
the last 20+ years, I've never run across one with glass platters.
Wer're up in the hundreds - ranging from full height 5 1/4" SASI
drives to 2 1/2 inch sata drives.


Hmm ... never attacked any more serious ones -- e.g. the 8" SMD
interface drives like the Fujitsu M2312K, or the 10" SMD interface ones
like the Fujitsu Eagle, or even the 14" washing machine drives (also SMD
interface).

And there were even some with hydraulic head positioners, or
with many fixed heads with up to 4 foot diameter platters. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

In 1975 or '76 I was working in a machine shop for the first time. I
would work 3 months straight 10 hours a day (really! I was young!)
doing the turning and boring work on cast iron motor housings for IBM.
The cycle time was just under 15 minutes each so I made 40 per day.
I'd get a couple months of 5 and 6 day weeks and then another run of 3
months on those damn castings. I only found out years later they were
for big magnetic disc drives. I think they were for either the 3330 or
3340 drives.
Eric
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive


Ignoramus23924 wrote:

I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Thanks


Remove the platters from the drives and sandblast the oxide layer off in
your sandblaster. Even the noted NSA level techs will not be able to
recover data from a pile of mixed platter dust.
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

In article ,
Ignoramus23924 wrote:

I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.


Not likely strong enough.

My standard approach is pounding the disk into a shapeless blob using a
five-pound hammer and an anvil. I put the drive in a freezer bag (heavy
polyethylene) first so the parts don't fly everywhere.

Joe Gwinn
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On Thu, 26 May 2011 07:26:05 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Wed, 25 May 2011 23:28:02 -0500, Ignoramus23924
wrote:

On 2011-05-26, Gunner Asch wrote:
Gunner, posting from a restaurant via cellphone hooked to cell phone


How exactly are they hooked?


I believe he meant to say "laptop hooked to a cell phone", Ig.


Blink blink.....sigh...indeed. It was late..and Id had a very busy day.

Sorry guys.

Gunner, home a day early..because all my clients closed for 4 days off.
(4 days of cleaning up/out Stuff!!)

Btw..puppies are ready!!




One could not be a successful Leftwinger without realizing that,
in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers
and mothers of Leftwingers, a goodly number of Leftwingers are
not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.
Gunner Asch
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On 2011-05-27, Joseph Gwinn wrote:
In article ,
Ignoramus23924 wrote:

I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.


Not likely strong enough.

My standard approach is pounding the disk into a shapeless blob using a
five-pound hammer and an anvil. I put the drive in a freezer bag (heavy
polyethylene) first so the parts don't fly everywhere.


You cannot do that with a 5 lb sledge. The hard drive will not break.

i
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

In article ,
Ignoramus6479 wrote:

On 2011-05-27, Joseph Gwinn wrote:
In article ,
Ignoramus23924 wrote:

I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.


Not likely strong enough.

My standard approach is pounding the disk into a shapeless blob using a
five-pound hammer and an anvil. I put the drive in a freezer bag (heavy
polyethylene) first so the parts don't fly everywhere.


You cannot do that with a 5 lb sledge. The hard drive will not break.


Really? It works well enough for my purposes. Maybe NSA could get data
off the result, but nobody else can. I use a drilling hammer and big
boulder.

But you are free to use any size hammer you can swing.

Joe Gwinn


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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

On 2011-05-28, Joseph Gwinn wrote:
In article ,
Ignoramus6479 wrote:

On 2011-05-27, Joseph Gwinn wrote:
In article ,
Ignoramus23924 wrote:

I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Not likely strong enough.

My standard approach is pounding the disk into a shapeless blob using a
five-pound hammer and an anvil. I put the drive in a freezer bag (heavy
polyethylene) first so the parts don't fly everywhere.


You cannot do that with a 5 lb sledge. The hard drive will not break.


Really? It works well enough for my purposes. Maybe NSA could get data
off the result, but nobody else can. I use a drilling hammer and big
boulder.

But you are free to use any size hammer you can swing.


Joe, a while ago, I tried pounding hard drives with a 8 lb sledge on
concrete.

While I am sure that the first blow will render is inoperable, I was
very surprised to find that the drive remained physically
intact. After perhaps 20 blows, the hard drive has been seriously
scratched up, but still essentially intact.
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Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

Ignoramus21144 wrote:
On 2011-05-28, Joseph wrote:
In ,
wrote:

On 2011-05-27, Joseph wrote:
In articlestydnXDVoa8dvUDQnZ2dnUVZ_qydnZ2d@giganews. com,
wrote:

I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.

THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.

Not likely strong enough.

My standard approach is pounding the disk into a shapeless blob using a
five-pound hammer and an anvil. I put the drive in a freezer bag (heavy
polyethylene) first so the parts don't fly everywhere.

You cannot do that with a 5 lb sledge. The hard drive will not break.


Really? It works well enough for my purposes. Maybe NSA could get data
off the result, but nobody else can. I use a drilling hammer and big
boulder.

But you are free to use any size hammer you can swing.


Joe, a while ago, I tried pounding hard drives with a 8 lb sledge on
concrete.

While I am sure that the first blow will render is inoperable, I was
very surprised to find that the drive remained physically
intact. After perhaps 20 blows, the hard drive has been seriously
scratched up, but still essentially intact.



You need a bigger hammer.

John
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john wrote:

Ignoramus21144 wrote:
? On 2011-05-28, Joseph ? wrote:
?? In ?,
?? ? wrote:
??
??? On 2011-05-27, Joseph ? wrote:
???? In article?stydnXDVoa8dvUDQnZ2dnUVZ_qydnZ2d@giganews. com?,
???? ? wrote:
????
????? I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
????? thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
????? not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.
?????
????? THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.
????
???? Not likely strong enough.
????
???? My standard approach is pounding the disk into a shapeless blob using a
???? five-pound hammer and an anvil. I put the drive in a freezer bag (heavy
???? polyethylene) first so the parts don't fly everywhere.
???
??? You cannot do that with a 5 lb sledge. The hard drive will not break.
??
?? Really? It works well enough for my purposes. Maybe NSA could get data
?? off the result, but nobody else can. I use a drilling hammer and big
?? boulder.
??
?? But you are free to use any size hammer you can swing.
??
?
? Joe, a while ago, I tried pounding hard drives with a 8 lb sledge on
? concrete.
?
? While I am sure that the first blow will render is inoperable, I was
? very surprised to find that the drive remained physically
? intact. After perhaps 20 blows, the hard drive has been seriously
? scratched up, but still essentially intact.

You need a bigger hammer.



Or to exercise more, so he can swing the hammer properly. Too much
time behind a keyboard and with automated tools makes you weak.


--
It's easy to think outside the box, when you have a cutting torch.
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Posts: 463
Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

"Michael A. Terrell" writes:

john wrote:

Ignoramus21144 wrote:
? On 2011-05-28, Joseph ? wrote:
?? In ?,
?? ? wrote:
??
??? On 2011-05-27, Joseph ? wrote:
???? In article?stydnXDVoa8dvUDQnZ2dnUVZ_qydnZ2d@giganews. com?,
???? ? wrote:
????
????? I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
????? thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
????? not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.
?????
????? THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.
????
???? Not likely strong enough.
????
???? My standard approach is pounding the disk into a shapeless blob using a
???? five-pound hammer and an anvil. I put the drive in a freezer bag (heavy
???? polyethylene) first so the parts don't fly everywhere.
???
??? You cannot do that with a 5 lb sledge. The hard drive will not break.
??
?? Really? It works well enough for my purposes. Maybe NSA could get data
?? off the result, but nobody else can. I use a drilling hammer and big
?? boulder.
??
?? But you are free to use any size hammer you can swing.
??
?
? Joe, a while ago, I tried pounding hard drives with a 8 lb sledge on
? concrete.
?
? While I am sure that the first blow will render is inoperable, I was
? very surprised to find that the drive remained physically
? intact. After perhaps 20 blows, the hard drive has been seriously
? scratched up, but still essentially intact.

You need a bigger hammer.



Or to exercise more, so he can swing the hammer properly. Too much
time behind a keyboard and with automated tools makes you weak.


Open it up, put a propane torch to it until it glows.
--
"Erwin, do you know what happened to the cat?" -- Mrs. Shroedinger
  #35   Report Post  
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Posts: 12,924
Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive


Joe Pfeiffer wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" ? writes:

? john wrote:
??
?? Ignoramus21144 wrote:
?? ? On 2011-05-28, Joseph ? wrote:
?? ?? In ?,
?? ?? ? wrote:
?? ??
?? ??? On 2011-05-27, Joseph ? wrote:
?? ???? In article?stydnXDVoa8dvUDQnZ2dnUVZ_qydnZ2d@giganews. com?,
?? ???? ? wrote:
?? ????
?? ????? I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
?? ????? thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
?? ????? not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.
?? ?????
?? ????? THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.
?? ????
?? ???? Not likely strong enough.
?? ????
?? ???? My standard approach is pounding the disk into a shapeless blob using a
?? ???? five-pound hammer and an anvil. I put the drive in a freezer bag (heavy
?? ???? polyethylene) first so the parts don't fly everywhere.
?? ???
?? ??? You cannot do that with a 5 lb sledge. The hard drive will not break.
?? ??
?? ?? Really? It works well enough for my purposes. Maybe NSA could get data
?? ?? off the result, but nobody else can. I use a drilling hammer and big
?? ?? boulder.
?? ??
?? ?? But you are free to use any size hammer you can swing.
?? ??
?? ?
?? ? Joe, a while ago, I tried pounding hard drives with a 8 lb sledge on
?? ? concrete.
?? ?
?? ? While I am sure that the first blow will render is inoperable, I was
?? ? very surprised to find that the drive remained physically
?? ? intact. After perhaps 20 blows, the hard drive has been seriously
?? ? scratched up, but still essentially intact.
??
?? You need a bigger hammer.
?
?
? Or to exercise more, so he can swing the hammer properly. Too much
? time behind a keyboard and with automated tools makes you weak.

Open it up, put a propane torch to it until it glows.



I prefer using the drive's built in software to destroy the data, but
to some people everything looks like a loose railroad spike.

--
It's easy to think outside the box, when you have a cutting torch.


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Posts: 669
Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive


We've disassembed and destroyed a number of drives, large [old Barracuda's
with magnesium housings...] and small [laptop].

Some have glass platters, many don't. Most have a good selection of tiny
screws.

All have interesting magnets and the other parts succumb to the
20 ton HF press.
--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
  #39   Report Post  
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Posts: 1,366
Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

In article ,
says...

Joe Pfeiffer wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" ? writes:

? john wrote:
??
?? Ignoramus21144 wrote:
?? ? On 2011-05-28, Joseph ? wrote:
?? ?? In ?,
?? ?? ? wrote:
?? ??
?? ??? On 2011-05-27, Joseph ? wrote:
?? ???? In article?stydnXDVoa8dvUDQnZ2dnUVZ_qydnZ2d@giganews. com?,
?? ???? ? wrote:
?? ????
?? ????? I have a little industrial demagnetizer from a grinding shop. Can this
?? ????? thing erase contents of hard drives securely? Or the magnetic field is
?? ????? not string enough? I have a pile of old HDs awaiting destruction.
?? ?????
?? ????? THe alternative is my press, which is more of a PITA.
?? ????
?? ???? Not likely strong enough.
?? ????
?? ???? My standard approach is pounding the disk into a shapeless blob using a
?? ???? five-pound hammer and an anvil. I put the drive in a freezer bag (heavy
?? ???? polyethylene) first so the parts don't fly everywhere.
?? ???
?? ??? You cannot do that with a 5 lb sledge. The hard drive will not break.
?? ??
?? ?? Really? It works well enough for my purposes. Maybe NSA could get data
?? ?? off the result, but nobody else can. I use a drilling hammer and big
?? ?? boulder.
?? ??
?? ?? But you are free to use any size hammer you can swing.
?? ??
?? ?
?? ? Joe, a while ago, I tried pounding hard drives with a 8 lb sledge on
?? ? concrete.
?? ?
?? ? While I am sure that the first blow will render is inoperable, I was
?? ? very surprised to find that the drive remained physically
?? ? intact. After perhaps 20 blows, the hard drive has been seriously
?? ? scratched up, but still essentially intact.
??
?? You need a bigger hammer.
?
?
? Or to exercise more, so he can swing the hammer properly. Too much
? time behind a keyboard and with automated tools makes you weak.

Open it up, put a propane torch to it until it glows.



I prefer using the drive's built in software to destroy the data, but
to some people everything looks like a loose railroad spike.


Software won't destroy it beyond the ability of a first world government
to recover. For that you need to do physical damage.


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Posts: 180
Default Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

The OP died three months ago.

----------

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
in.local...
Really gets down to how thoroughly you want it destroyed.

Want to do it thoroughly, grind the platters to dust, mix the dust with
Thermite, burn the Thermite, then spread the results over the Pacific.

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