The surest way to stop others stealing your hard disk data...

[Zulu Romeo]

Smash the hard disk to pieces. With a hammer. From orbit. Just to be sure.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7816446.stm

Computing magazine Which? recovered 22,000 "deleted" files from eight computers purchased on eBay.

Criminals source old computers from internet auction sites or in rubbish tips, to find users' valuable details.

Freely available software can be used to recover files that users think they have permanently deleted.

The only solution, according to Which?, is complete destruction - and it recommends using a hammer.

The study looked to see how easy it was to recover data seemingly deleted from a hard disk. I've heard it is possible to recover such data from a wiped and reformatted hard disk (with some difficulty) but in the context of identity fraud it takes this concept to a whole new level.

Smashing the hard disk, though? Might make reselling a bit of a problem.

Still, good old BBC to popularise the study for general consumption again, eh?

 

[The Master of Tarquin Hill]

I have had in my possession, for almost twenty years now, an 8lb hammer.

It serves me well.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I used a recovery program (can't remember which one right now) to get back an entire folder I accidentally deleted.
I think if you remove the partitions on a hard drive the data becomes irretreivable, but I could be wrong.

 

[Marc]

Yes - you should never under estimate the ability to recover data from a smashed up drive.

A large amount of data was recovered from a hard disk that was aboard Columbia on it's final flight. Took several years any the end they got much of what they wanted (think it was irreplacable scientific data).

 

[The Master of Tarquin Hill]

Yes - you should never under estimate the ability to recover data from a smashed up drive.

A large amount of data was recovered from a hard disk that was aboard Columbia on it's final flight. Took several years any the end they got much of what they wanted (think it was irreplacable scientific data).

Well, I can only assume that orbital re-entry is at least slightly more deleterious than an 8lb hammer.

What is that stuff they use in in TSCC? Can you buy that in Home Despot?

ED: I think it was used on a recent Mythbusters ep.

 

[Marc]

Yes - you should never under estimate the ability to recover data from a smashed up drive.

A large amount of data was recovered from a hard disk that was aboard Columbia on it's final flight. Took several years any the end they got much of what they wanted (think it was irreplacable scientific data).

Well, I can only assume that orbital re-entry is at least slightly more deleterious than an 8lb hammer.

What is that stuff they use in in TSCC? Can you buy that in Home Despot?

ED: I think it was used on a recent Mythbusters ep.

One for you

Thermite.

And you might be able to make buy the ingredients at Home Depot.

 

[Amaris]

Smashing it with a hammer might work.
Then again, if you encrypt it with blowfish CS and secure wipe it DOD style (7 pass multiwipe), it will far surpass the 8 lb hammer route.

J.

 

[The Master of Tarquin Hill]

Smashing it with a hammer might work.
Then again, if you encrypt it with blowfish CS and secure wipe it DOD style (7 pass multiwipe), it will far surpass the 8 lb hammer route.

J.

You have come a long way from VHS tapes young padawan.

 

[Hermiod]

Attach it to a rocket and sent it in to the sun, it's the only way to know for sure.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

I thought nuking it from orbit was the only way to be sure?

 

[Hermiod]

I thought nuking it from orbit was the only way to be sure?

Nuke it from orbit then send it in to the sun.

 

[The Master of Tarquin Hill]

I thought nuking it from orbit was the only way to be sure?

Nuke it from orbit then send it in to the sun.

I agree. And if there is some thrusters nearby, Right Into The Local Black Hole.

I'm not trying to be obscene but, That is just the fuck what you need to do to be sure.

 

[Hermiod]

Well, I saw the guys on CSI:NY take the platters from a burned hard disk and transfer them to an otherwise identical drive and recover all sorts of data off it it, so it must be possible!

 

[Marc]

Well, I saw the guys on CSI:NY take the platters from a burned hard disk and transfer them to an otherwise identical drive and recover all sorts of data off it it, so it must be possible!

Sure if you've got a clean room (don't mean a tidy room - mean a Clean Room) and the ability to then fill the drive with an inert gas before sealing it.

Though I'm sure that would work in practicality - it's possible the platters might of been warped by the the heat which would run the risk of a head crash (the heads are a hair's width above the surface and any imperfections would catch the head).

Not sure how they do it normally - whether they put the platters into a new unit or whether they read the raw info from the platters then reconstruct using software.

 

[ITL]

So is this software not good enough, these days? Should I use The Righteous Hammer Of Data-Mashing when I need my hard drive no more?

 

[The Master of Tarquin Hill]

So is this software not good enough, these days? Should I use The Righteous Hammer Of Data-Mashing when I need my hard drive no more?

Have you ever met a hammer that wasn't righteous?

 

[ITL]

So is this software not good enough, these days? Should I use The Righteous Hammer Of Data-Mashing when I need my hard drive no more?

Have you ever met a hammer that wasn't righteous?

No. I have not.

 

[Hermiod]

Sure if you've got a clean room (don't mean a tidy room - mean a Clean Room) and the ability to then fill the drive with an inert gas before sealing it.

Though I'm sure that would work in practicality - it's possible the platters might of been warped by the the heat which would run the risk of a head crash (the heads are a hair's width above the surface and any imperfections would catch the head).

The procedure was not performed in a clean room in the episode, it was your standard CSI montage of clips sequence so they didn't show everything but my eyes could not have rolled back further in to my head without me looking like the Undertaker.

Not sure how they do it normally - whether they put the platters into a new unit or whether they read the raw info from the platters then reconstruct using software.

With an intact drive, i.e. one where the user has just deleted data from it without taking any special measures, it's possible that the file system hasn't actually destroyed the data, it has just marked those parts of the disc as unused.

If that's not the case, if the user has formatted and overwritten the drive then there's still, apparently, a possibility of retrieving the old data.

 

[Daedalus12]

overwritten the drive then there's still, apparently, a possibility of retrieving the old data.

Yes theoretically it's possible but there is no evidence that anyone has actually demonstrated this in a practical sense. Of course it wouldn't surprise me that a party who has accomplished such difficult feat would in fact choose to be discreet about it but I doubt that is the case.

One scrubbing of a discarded hard drive with random data is good enough. If you are paranoid about some new recovery method in the future then do half dozen passes.

 

[Hermiod]

^I agree, realistically this advice is going more than a little too far.