Re: wipe broken disk

on Monday 28 January 2008 20:44
in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.hardware
peter pilsl wrote:


I have several broken harddisks. (increasing amount of badblocks or
I/O-errors all the time, S.M.A.R.T-error-count >60.000 and rising ...)

The harddisks are all on a staple and are ready for the Trash. However:
before dumping I need to wipe them, cause they still contain sensitive
data.

How to wipe a broken disk? I tried COPYWIPE from ultimatebootdisk as my
preferred solution, but it takes ages or hangs.

It is possible that a disk breaks in such a way that the media (and data)
remain intact, so the spy/journalist/police/spotty kid only have to pull
the drive apart and put the spindle in a new box.

How serious are you? Physical destruction might be your only option.

I could now start dealing with a own set of dd-commands, but maybe there
is someone who has to deal with this frequently and knows a proven
reliable solution.

Drilling is an option, but to be frank: I dont know how to do it and how
secure/reliable it is. If someone recommends drilling, please dont
forget to mention the points where the drilling-fun is best ;)
I'm sysadmin and wanna-be-bikemechanic, so drilling might be a good
sensation.

You should have used an encrypted file system before you started and
then wiped the disks before they broke. ;-)

Magnetic domains get scrambled if you (thoroughly) heat things to
the Curie temperature. How hot that is depends on what your disks
are made of.

I've heard stories about shredders for hard drives. They must be
fun.

Oxy-Acetylene, sandpaper, sledgehammer? Be creative. ;-)


--
sig goes here...
Peter D.
.

Relevant Pages

  • wipe broken disk
    ... I have several broken harddisks. ... I could now start dealing with a own set of dd-commands, but maybe there is someone who has to deal with this frequently and knows a proven reliable solution. ... Drilling is an option, but to be frank: I dont know how to do it and how secure/reliable it is. ...
    (comp.os.linux.hardware)
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    ... Ok my favorite method is drilling a hole and adding sand. ... I'm guessing that drilling a hole in the case, pouring in some sand and firing up the disk would probably do a good job of rendering the data non-readable too;> ...
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