[ale] OT: Erasing a toasted drive

[Jeff Hubbs]

When I worked for the Air Force, we bought a degausser that took up half 
a tabletop and had trays and adapters molded for all kinds of media.  
The tray would spin and move sideways underneath a hood for a minute or 
so.  I don't know what manner of alternating mag field this thing made, 
but it took 208VAC.

It beat taking 14" platters to be sandblasted.

Greg Freemyer wrote:

>On 10/28/05, Geoffrey <esoteric at 3times25.net> wrote:
>  
>
>>Greg Freemyer wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>>>First, find a whopping-big magnet ...
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>>This is likely a better solution then a simple format.
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>False, disk drives are enclosed in metal that redirects the magnatism
>>>around the platters.  Takes a huge magnet.  Think small refridgerator
>>>size.  Maybe a little smaller for a laptop drive.
>>>      
>>>
>>False?  So what's the difference between a 'whopping-big magnet' and a
>>'huge magnet?'  My point was that simply reformatting the drive touches
>>very little of the actual data on the drive.  Now if he'd said a 10lb
>>magnet and you said a 100lb magnet, then I can see the difference.
>>    
>>
>
>I took the word "better" to mean "more realistic".  I just don't think
>the magnet approach is realistic.  Most people seem to think they can
>take a $30 tape demagnatizer and demagnetize a disk.  Magnets built
>for the job cost around $5K.  Pretty hard to justify.  Even government
>agencies don't use them from my limited knowledge.  I've been told
>they use really big shredders that can shred the whole drive.  Never
>seen that myself....
>
>  
>
>>>I would remove the drive carrier from the Dell.  Then remove the drive
>>>from the drive carrier. Then open up the drive (normally uses some
>>>very small specialty screw drivers.  You can buy those at Fry's I
>>>think).  Be aware that one of the screws is normally in the middle of
>>>the spindle and covered by a paper label.  Removal of this screw is
>>>normally fairly obvious, but I doubt Dell will look very hard.
>>>      
>>>
>>and very likely void the warranty on the whole thing.  Better chance of
>>saying you had to replace the drive.
>>    
>>
>>>Once you have the drive open, pop the platters off the spindle.
>>>(Fairly easy to do the few times I've done it.)  Reassemble everything
>>>but the platters and send it back to Dell.  Worst case Dell makes you
>>>pay for the new drive.
>>>      
>>>
>>Wrong, they will likely void the whole warranty.  You'd be better off
>>replacing the drive.  At least then, the drive sticker that says 'void
>>if removed' will still be in place.
>>
>>I would suggest he look into how replacing the drive would impact the
>>warranty.
>>    
>>
>
>Personally, if I was worried about proprietary data I would not have
>called Dell in the first place.  Just bought a new laptop drive (less
>than $100) and replaced it myself.  Then I could easily destroy the
>physical drive and not have to worry about the warrenty issues.
>
>Greg
>--
>Greg Freemyer
>The Norcross Group
>Forensics for the 21st Century
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>  
>