<div dir="ltr">Not to rain on the new toy parade but that's overkill even on my standards (along with thermite - which is also fun!).<br><br>A serious note to this is:<br><br>All that is absolutely required is to raise the temperature of the platters above the curie point when they loose all magnetic properties. The curie point for most materials is below the melting point of most of the substrate materials. 450F and higher and the disk is no longer magnetic. So a flash heat source of 2000F for a few milliseconds will provide enough heat to obliterate the magnetic fields on the surface (and leave some nice scorch marks). Thus special, high security drives have a small plastic explosive charge embedded in the cover and base that can be detonated manually, heating the platters over the curie point without being a safety hazard to nearby objects. It still buckles the cover and might throw some screw heads around, though.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 11:11 AM, Mike Harrison <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:meuon@geeklabs.com">meuon@geeklabs.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d">> The only real way to ensure data is gone off a drive is to drop it into<br>
> a crucible and turn it into molten slag.<br>
<br>
</div>Sounds like a way to expense a nice plasma torch.<br>
<br>
Which, if you haven't played with one, is a wonderful toy.. er.. tool. :)<br>
<div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
<br>
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