If you want to keep the drives intact but destroy the data, dban is the bomb. <br><br>If, on the other hand, you want to make 100% sure that the drives are completely unrecoverable, then thermite is my preferred wipe method, and it's fun, to boot! I'm pretty sure there's no way to recover data from a molten puddle.<br>
<br>--Dennis<br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 4:06 PM, Neal Rhodes <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:neal@mnopltd.com">neal@mnopltd.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;">
<br>
<br>
<br>
>> What's wrong with a ball-peen hammer applied to the center of the top<br>
>of<br>
>> the drive until the platter/head mechanism is permanently dished in?<br>
>> Then a quick toss into the garbage can.<br>
>><br>
>> Have even the 3 letter organizations succeeded in getting data of a<br>
>> drive with shattered platters?<br>
<br>
(Greg Freemyer)wrote:<br>
>That is no where near as good as a single pass wipe.<br>
><br>
>First, hard drive platters are metal. They don't shatter, they bend.<br>
><br>
>With a MFM microscope I don't think it would be a real issue at all to<br>
>recover data from bent platters.<br>
><br>
>If you have $25 see<br>
><a href="http://www.springerlink.com/content/408263ql11460147/" target="_blank">http://www.springerlink.com/content/408263ql11460147/</a><br>
><br>
>Or the free summary at<br>
><a href="http://sansforensics.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/overwriting-hard-drive-data/" target="_blank">http://sansforensics.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/overwriting-hard-drive-data/</a><br>
><br>
>That one paper is the only public doc I'm aware written in the 21st<br>
>century that addresses the issue of recovery via laboratory<br>
>techniques. (ie. The Gutmann paper was from 1996 and is simply no<br>
>longer relevant.)<br>
><br>
>Greg<br>
<br>
My apologies for not noting the original poster's intent to avoid<br>
damage. I generally don't dispose of hard drives until they present<br>
failures/errors such that it's doubtful that the drive will even spin<br>
up, let alone last through a complete surface write. Or ten.<br>
<br>
We could have an interesting discussion on bending platters, and whether<br>
the coating would bend or flake off. Obviously the heads would be<br>
toast and nothing would fly over it anymore.<br>
<br>
Perhaps another perspective is how many months one would have to spend<br>
looking at the bent platters with a microscope to get anything useful.<br>
Let's face it - most of our drives are filled with linux and the<br>
zillions of files that go with it. Even if there was a credit card<br>
number somewhere in there somewhere in some file, or a picture of you<br>
posing on the grassy knoll the day Kennedy was shot, do you think this<br>
could be found and assembled? Do you think someone without a-priori<br>
knowledge that there was gold buried in there could be motivated to<br>
spend enough months to reassemble enough of the inode and file<br>
structure?<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Neal Rhodes<br>
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</font></blockquote></div><br>