Posted on 07/26/2009 1:46:23 PM PDT by poiuqwer
I suspect that China might be stealing our confidential data that is stored (or backed up) on external USB hard disks, such as those 1 TB commodities sold as Costco for $100.
Early this year, I bought two 1 TB external USB drives to backup my computer. These drives cost a little over $100 with a five-year warranty. I figured, for redundancy, I’d copy my main C-drive data files to both drives, just in case one dies.
Sure enough, six months later, I get the Windows XP error message “USB Device Not Recognized: one of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it”.
I’m a technician. I know how to diagnose whether it really did fail or was something else. For example, I switched ports, shuffled devices, and tried it on other machines. The USB drive no longer works and it’s not the computer. I cannot access the disk and I no longer get a drive letter. I neither let the drive over heat nor did I bump it while it was running. It just failed.
Here’s where it becomes interesting. It’s terribly easy for me to return this drive. I just go online, fill out a form, attach it to the containing box, and mail it off for $5. The manufacturer will return a new drive with no questions asked. I have done this before. BUT, I noticed on the back of the drive that it was manufactured in China.
Now I have to ask my suspicious self these questions:
(1) What if only the internal USB port (not the actual drive) has burned out? Then the drive would still be perfectly intact, but useless to me. If I return it (so easily done and encouraged to do) then is my drive shipped back to Communist China?
(2) Could China have an army of thousands of PRC engineers that merely pop these returned drives out of the USB container, plug them into a Borg-like array of SATA and IDE ports that automatically start downloading the files building a huge secret database that is cross referenced with the people and companies that returned it? They have an address and company name for sure. They will definitely have all sorts of data on the drives.
(3) What if the USB devices are engineered to stochastically burn out first; before the actual internal drive? Would this be a method for China to get Americans to ship their data back to them completely intact after six months of stuffing data on them? I know that without the USB port working, I cannot cryptographically wipe the disk before I send it back. If I open the case to bypass the USB port and access the “still working” drive directly, then the warranty becomes invalid.
This is why I RAID stripe my external disks (or encrypt them) so that when I return any one disk, no complete information is on them. But how many people bother? I know lots of people that just return them with a grimace on their face.
Answer: Yes
What’s the brand or make of the 1TB XTHD? I have one as well..
Obama hacked into your files, just to make sure you didn’t have a copy of his BC.
Are you guys talking about a 1TB external hard drive or a thumb/flash drive? If you know where I can get a 1TB thumb/flash drive which will fit on my keychain for under a $100, please let me know where to find such a thing.
Because when I have a USB external hard drive, I call the manufacturer and send it back. No, actually, I just buy a new one. Typically, after a few months/years, they provide more capacity for memory for cheaper anyways. And I actually prefer firewire external drives over USB.
However, I wouldn’t be surprised if hidden viruses are shipped on them when you purchase them.
Interesting theory. Perhaps a little too complex but reasonable to assume that if you return a drive to China, someone will be officially tasked with finding out what’s on it.
Since you are technical, take the drive out of the case and attach it directly to your computer’s disk controller, using the appropriate IDE or SATA data and power cables.
You may also want to try mounting it on a Linux system, both as a USB device and, out of the box, as just another hard drive.
If the drive is truly dead, then get a BIG FAT MAGNET and bulk erase the drive before returning it. That should erase most if not all of your data. I believe there are even bulk erase machines that could do an even better job of it.
One of my clients, a major midwest refinery, does not permit the use of USB flash drives for security reasons.
You may want to contact the following:
Central Intelligence Agency
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, D.C. 20505
Phone
(703) 482-0623
FAX: (703) 482-1739
If you’re going to take it apart, you might as well replace the bad part yourself.
Neither does the Dept. of Defense.
Or my place of work
Most of these are just a harddrive wrapped in complex plastic, so if you really wanted to make sure it was a USB problem you could crack that beast open and plug the drive into the computer.
Do people really send these things in for repair? My drive busted I just bought a new one. Since it’s just a backup anyway I couldn’t lose anything. And do the Chinese really need our illegal MP3s? That’s what occupies most of the space on these things.
You ship it to an address in the US.
They probably just check to see it is one of theirs, send you another one, and throw it out.
I could, but why? I have the drives redundant with RAID stiped, and the manufactured will just send me a new one. I’m not concerned about my data; it’s already protected. I’m just wondering about a big scary possible picture.
a terabyte and multiples thereof is a LOT of data, probably mostly used by corporate and gummint agencies. Your concern seems entirely plausible to me, and as one who has opened every HD I have ever discarded in order to destroy the actual physical media, I will continue to do so......but I have the luxury of needing another lifetime or two before actually needing more than 60 or so gigs, LOL
I'm only talking about 1 TB external USB hard disks -- not flash drives. But I suppose the same argument applies for them as well.
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