DIYbanter - View Single Post - Can a small industrial demagnetizer erase a hard drive

J. Clarke[_2_]

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.