Wiping a dead hard drive

M

MF

Hi, all

Anyone know a practical, effective way to erase a hard drive that is deader
than a brick?

It's a West. Digital 60 gig 7200 RPM. It won't spin up and
WD's diagnostic utilities won't recognize it. It went out a few days before
the warranty expired and I want to try to return it, but it has _lots_ of
sensitive info on it, and, dead or not, I don't want it in the hands of
strangers.

By practical, I mean something not too hard to get access to. Running it
thru an MRI scanner might be worth a try, but not too practical....

Thanks!

Mike
 
M

MikeW

The price of a replacement 60G harddrive is proly under $60 if you look
around. If the data is that sensitive, I would use the LLNL method of
removing the platters, and destroying them....just spring for a new drive
it's cheaper in the long run....

Mike W
 
J

John Doe

MF said:
lol. that's what I'm looking for, but don't know where to find one.
Click to expand...

I took a powerful magnet out of a 5 1/4" floppy disk drive. As I recall.
It would erase floppy disks. But even though it had a strong gripping
effect, it would not erase/corrupt zip disks. Good luck.
 
A

Al Dykes

I took a powerful magnet out of a 5 1/4" floppy disk drive. As I recall.
It would erase floppy disks. But even though it had a strong gripping
effect, it would not erase/corrupt zip disks. Good luck.
Click to expand...

No permenant magnet is powerfull enough to demag a disk unless you
open it up and wipe directly on the platter surfaces (any maybe not
even then.) The act of opening up a modern disk and touching the
surface makes the disk trash if you think you want to reuse it.

I believe that if you demag the platters yoiu will loss track servo
sync recordings that will make it impossible to reuse.

If your data (or your privacy) is worth more than $60, just take a
sledge hammer to it, of a concrete floor. Deforming the platters
makes it unreadable. A welding torch would do it, too. Physical
deformation is the only way I can think of for a private individual to
insure that the data can't be read.
 
R

Rich Webb

Take a hammer to it. Bang some nails through it etc.
Click to expand...

Jeez -- why all of these violent solutions? Physical destruction is,
indeed, the only reliable way to ensure that the data is not recoverable
but that can also be accomplished by just taking the thing apart.
Salvage what's re-useable and use the rest for geek Xmas-tree ornaments.
 
R

rhys

A local radio station, even a campus one (where they might still be
using tape) will have a 10" x 10" x 6" grey box that resembles a very
heavy coffee pot warmer.

This is a "degaussing machine".

Run the HD over that a few times and I guarantee a complete wipe. <G>

Of course, if you are truly paranoid, whale on it with a ball peen
hammer afterwards and jam the rubbish into the treads of a bulldozer.

Should work.

R.
 
A

Al Dykes

A local radio station, even a campus one (where they might still be
using tape) will have a 10" x 10" x 6" grey box that resembles a very
heavy coffee pot warmer.

This is a "degaussing machine".

Run the HD over that a few times and I guarantee a complete wipe. <G>

Of course, if you are truly paranoid, whale on it with a ball peen
hammer afterwards and jam the rubbish into the treads of a bulldozer.

Should work.
Click to expand...


Did you try it ? Could you format and reuse the disk, afterwords ?

What vintage disk ? It makes difference.
 
C

Conor

Hi, all

Anyone know a practical, effective way to erase a hard drive that is deader
than a brick?

It's a West. Digital 60 gig 7200 RPM. It won't spin up and
WD's diagnostic utilities won't recognize it. It went out a few days before
the warranty expired and I want to try to return it, but it has _lots_ of
sensitive info on it, and, dead or not, I don't want it in the hands of
strangers.

By practical, I mean something not too hard to get access to. Running it
thru an MRI scanner might be worth a try, but not too practical....
Click to expand...
Get an angle grinder and cut it up. Forget running over it. I once ran
over one with a 38 tonne lorry and it survived.
 
J

JAD

electromagnet

Al Dykes said:
No permenant magnet is powerfull enough to demag a disk unless you
open it up and wipe directly on the platter surfaces (any maybe not
even then.) The act of opening up a modern disk and touching the
surface makes the disk trash if you think you want to reuse it.

I believe that if you demag the platters yoiu will loss track servo
sync recordings that will make it impossible to reuse.

If your data (or your privacy) is worth more than $60, just take a
sledge hammer to it, of a concrete floor. Deforming the platters
makes it unreadable. A welding torch would do it, too. Physical
deformation is the only way I can think of for a private individual to
insure that the data can't be read.
Click to expand...
 
M

Monster

unscrew it, take out the platter and destroy it. If it's sensitive you
probably don't want it ending up anywhere
 
A

Al Dykes

power / size well lets see...a visit to the local wrecking/metal recycling
yard would do the trick.
Click to expand...


And what makes you thing that ? Don't mistake the strength of the
magnetic field with the lifting ability of a magnet with a large
surface area, but moderate field intensity.

I think a medical MRI is the strongest magnet you'll find outside
an advanced physics lab.


 

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