Big Guy Posted December 4, 2015 Report Posted December 4, 2015 I have recently upgraded to a better computer and my old one is not worth for anything but re-cycling. I have some personal and business data on the hard drive and have been told that even "wiping it clean" electronically will still leave data. Some of this data is not mine and sensitive to the owners. Will I need a sledge hammer to "kill" a hard drive? Do you also have to physically destroy thumb drives to make sure none of the data can be retrieved? Quote Note - For those expecting a response from Big Guy: I generally do not read or respond to posts longer then 300 words nor to parsed comments.
Wilber Posted December 4, 2015 Report Posted December 4, 2015 (edited) You might want to ask the BC government, they seem to have triple deleting down pat. Edited December 4, 2015 by Charles Anthony excessive quoting; [OP] Quote "Never trust a man who has not a single redeeming vice". WSC
bush_cheney2004 Posted December 4, 2015 Report Posted December 4, 2015 Wiping the hard drive electronically to any standard with multiple (3 to 7) passes takes a very long time depending on the size of the drive. A reasonable approach is one erasure/write pass followed by mechanical destruction of the hard disk platters. I usually wipe the disk and smash the platters to pieces or drill many holes through the platters in situ. https://snapguide.com/guides/destroy-a-hard-drive/ Quote Economics trumps Virtue.
ReeferMadness Posted December 4, 2015 Report Posted December 4, 2015 Deleting computer files just hides them from the operating system and allows the disk space to be reused. Until it is reused, the data can be recovered. Similarly, reformatting doesn't actually go and remove all of the data. There are lots of utilities out there that will overwrite unused areas of your harddrive with meaningless 1's and 0's. I use CCleaner by Piriform. It's available for download and there is a free version. You can even set it to overwrite multiple times (up to 35). There are people who claim that computer forensics specialists are able to recover data even if it has been overwritten (now we're talking FBI) But if you just want to take a hammer to it, that works too. Quote Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while preserving privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists. - Noam Chomsky It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair
ReeferMadness Posted December 4, 2015 Report Posted December 4, 2015 And use eye protection if you're going to try to physically destroy computer equipment. Quote Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while preserving privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists. - Noam Chomsky It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair
Wilber Posted December 4, 2015 Report Posted December 4, 2015 I used a 5 pound sledge on my last HD but would like a better solution for my next one. I was semi serious with my triple delete comment. It would be interesting to know what software they used. Quote "Never trust a man who has not a single redeeming vice". WSC
ReeferMadness Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 I used a 5 pound sledge on my last HD but would like a better solution for my next one. I was semi serious with my triple delete comment. It would be interesting to know what software they used. There are literally dozens of free secure delete software programs out there. Most of them will let you pick a number of times you want to overwrite your data. You should distinguish between "delete" which doesn't remove any data and "overwrite" which physically overwrites the sectors on the disk with 0's and 1's. Also, some methods of securely deleting data leave your hard drive unusable (eg. degaussing). Food for thought: the problem with using a piece of software for this is you can't really be sure what it's done, if anything. For all you know, it's taken all of your data and sent it off to some hacker. The advantage of physically destroying the drive is you're not relying on some programmer somewhere to have done the job properly. Quote Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while preserving privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists. - Noam Chomsky It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair
ReeferMadness Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 Wiping the hard drive electronically to any standard with multiple (3 to 7) passes takes a very long time depending on the size of the drive. I know that the military standards are to overwrite the data 3 times but I haven't been able to locate any reasonable, credible site that says that data can reasonably be recovered after 1 pass. This site claims the whole practise of overwriting multiple times is based on an urban legend from some research that was done in the 1990s on old technology drives. Same with this site. Apparently, the science behind this is that if a bit is changed from, say a 0 to a 1, the voltage is slightly different than if it was originally a 1. However, unless you know how many times a given bit is overwritten, I'm not sure how you could apply this. Also, the method is apparently far from foolproof and any errors in data recovery would multiply. Assuming this works at all, the process of recovering data would be incredibly time consuming and tedious. And if you have, say, a 1 TB hard drive, unless you were able to correctly restore the disk directory, the process of trying to make sense of the data would be mind-numbing. Unless you are worried about a military hacker, I suggest that worrying about 3 or 7 passes is probably overkill. Quote Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while preserving privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists. - Noam Chomsky It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair
Guest Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) I just take the shiny bit out and twist it all to hell with pliers. As someone has already said, wear eye protection. Edited December 5, 2015 by bcsapper Quote
August1991 Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) Will I need a sledge hammer to "kill" a hard drive? Do you also have to physically destroy thumb drives to make sure none of the data can be retrieved? Water damage. Ray Gricar Edited December 5, 2015 by August1991 Quote
bush_cheney2004 Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 .... Unless you are worried about a military hacker, I suggest that worrying about 3 or 7 passes is probably overkill. Overkill was the intended purpose. Years ago, I had to personally destroy and/or witness the destruction of thousands of classified documents, crypto keys, positive film, audio tapes, digital media, etc., and "good enough" is/was not acceptable. Even more paperwork is created to document erasure and physical destruction. Besides, it is fun ! Quote Economics trumps Virtue.
eyeball Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 I have recently upgraded to a better computer and my old one is not worth for anything but re-cycling. I have some personal and business data on the hard drive and have been told that even "wiping it clean" electronically will still leave data. Some of this data is not mine and sensitive to the owners. Will I need a sledge hammer to "kill" a hard drive? Do you also have to physically destroy thumb drives to make sure none of the data can be retrieved? Just leave them out in the rain and throw some rock salt on them. They'll be toast in no time. Quote A government without public oversight is like a nuclear plant without lead shielding.
bill_barilko Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 Just leave them out in the rain and throw some rock salt on them. They'll be toast in no time. ^ this. It's been postulated here in Vancouver that dumping a unit overboard from BC Ferries @ night where Georgia Strait is over 500 metres deep is one way to say goodbye to data forever. Quote
ReeferMadness Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) Overkill was the intended purpose. Years ago, I had to personally destroy and/or witness the destruction of thousands of classified documents, crypto keys, positive film, audio tapes, digital media, etc., and "good enough" is/was not acceptable. Even more paperwork is created to document erasure and physical destruction. Besides, it is fun ! And while you were enjoying yourself diverting resources destroying data of probably negligible value, the Chinese were hacking the secrets to the butterball. (luckily, the plane is mostly worthless) Well done! Edited December 5, 2015 by ReeferMadness Quote Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while preserving privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists. - Noam Chomsky It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair
ReeferMadness Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 ^ this. It's been postulated here in Vancouver that dumping a unit overboard from BC Ferries @ night where Georgia Strait is over 500 metres deep is one way to say goodbye to data forever. It's also a good way to get arrested. Quote Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while preserving privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists. - Noam Chomsky It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair
bush_cheney2004 Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 (edited) And while you were enjoying yourself diverting resources destroying data of probably negligible value, the Chinese were hacking the secrets to the butterball. (luckily, the plane is mostly worthless) Actually, data destruction methods were prescribed by specification, the very same ones that Canada copies to this day. Disk packs for targeting nuclear weapons seemed valuable at the time. Edited December 5, 2015 by bush_cheney2004 Quote Economics trumps Virtue.
ReeferMadness Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 Actually, data destruction methods were prescribed by specification, the very same ones that Canada copies to this day. Disk packs for targeting nuclear weapons seemed valuable at the time. I'm sure that makes you feel better - but it doesn't make the process any less a waste of time and money. Quote Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while preserving privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists. - Noam Chomsky It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair
bush_cheney2004 Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 I'm sure that makes you feel better - but it doesn't make the process any less a waste of time and money. No, the waste of time and money would have been a long prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I can hear it now, "Sir, I am not going to destroy this disk drive because some guy in Canada says it's a waste of time and money". Quote Economics trumps Virtue.
ReeferMadness Posted December 5, 2015 Report Posted December 5, 2015 No, the waste of time and money would have been a long prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I can hear it now, "Sir, I am not going to destroy this disk drive because some guy in Canada says it's a waste of time and money". Good thinking. Instead, when your grandkids ask what part you had in bankrupting your country, you can use that old military excuse. "I was just following orders". Quote Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while preserving privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists. - Noam Chomsky It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair
bush_cheney2004 Posted December 6, 2015 Report Posted December 6, 2015 Good thinking. I know, as most others will not follow your "cheap" advice...even in miserly Canada...as demonstrated by this data security business: Quote Economics trumps Virtue.
ReeferMadness Posted December 6, 2015 Report Posted December 6, 2015 I know, as most others will not follow your "cheap" advice...even in miserly Canada...as demonstrated by this data security business: Sure but did they catalog everything, overwrite the data 7 times and degauss the drives first? Quote Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while preserving privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists. - Noam Chomsky It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair
bush_cheney2004 Posted December 6, 2015 Report Posted December 6, 2015 Sure but did they catalog everything, overwrite the data 7 times and degauss the drives first? They did whatever the client paid for. Data security peace of mind is....priceless. Quote Economics trumps Virtue.
bill_barilko Posted December 6, 2015 Report Posted December 6, 2015 It's also a good way to get arrested. And how would I be arrested-on what charge with what proof? Have you ever been aboard a BC Ferry? I can't believe you'd post that. Quote
eyeball Posted December 6, 2015 Report Posted December 6, 2015 Littering, with video camera evidence might do it. We saw what you did and we know who you are. Quote A government without public oversight is like a nuclear plant without lead shielding.
bill_barilko Posted December 6, 2015 Report Posted December 6, 2015 Littering, with video camera evidence might do it. We saw what you did and we know who you are. So you've never been aboard a ferry and have no idea what you're talking about-exactly what I thought. Quote
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