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Skeletons on your hard drive
CNet.News.com ^
| 4/20/2005
| Matt Hines
Posted on 04/20/2005 7:11:32 AM PDT by Mike Bates
Tax records, resumes, photo albums--the modern hard drive can keep increasingly larger volumes of information at the ready. But that can turn into a problem when it comes to effectively erasing the devices.
There are a number of options for cleansing the drives of unwanted computers, from special wiping software to destruction services to manufacturers' recycling programs. But what many PC owners don't realize, experts say, is that these methods are often not enough.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...
TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: computing; drives; eraseharddrive; erasing; harddrive; privacy
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To: LurkedLongEnough
rub sand onto the surface of the drive, hopelessly scratching it to prevent recovery.Sounds labor intensive--unless you would consider a belt or orbital sander, or maybe a sand blaster?
21
posted on
04/20/2005 7:23:40 AM PDT
by
NautiNurse
("I'd rather see someone go to work for a Republican campaign than sit on their butt."--Howard Dean)
To: Mike Bates
Are you sure it's not luze?
22
posted on
04/20/2005 7:23:42 AM PDT
by
marvlus
To: Mike Bates
How the hell the skeletons ever got from my closet onto my hard drive is a mystery to me.
...totally *flummoxed*.
23
posted on
04/20/2005 7:24:02 AM PDT
by
Landru
(Indulgences: 2 for a buck.)
To: edcoil
This method involves using the edges of the tracks.
The more data they put onto hard drives, the less well it works. They can only recover some of the bits, not all of them. So your text data might or might not be readable. Binaries would be hopeless.
In any case, if the NSA is spending thousands to analyze your hard drive, you're in big trouble already.
To: Mike Bates
25
posted on
04/20/2005 7:24:23 AM PDT
by
JZelle
To: Landru
LOL. Sounds like a case for CSI.
26
posted on
04/20/2005 7:25:15 AM PDT
by
mewzilla
To: JZelle
Knew someone would get it. Thanks.
27
posted on
04/20/2005 7:25:23 AM PDT
by
Mike Bates
(Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
To: TXBSAFH
No data retrievable. And ya'll felt a whole lot better too. Ahhhh......modern pyschiatry.
28
posted on
04/20/2005 7:26:15 AM PDT
by
facedown
(Armed in the Heartland)
To: facedown
29
posted on
04/20/2005 7:27:48 AM PDT
by
TXBSAFH
(Never underestimate the power of human stupidity--Robert Heinlein)
I remove the platters from the drive and scratch them up with screwdrivers, and then I bend them in all sorts of funky directions with pliers. Next time I'll use some sand paper to score the platters too, thanks to a suggestion from an earlier poster.
30
posted on
04/20/2005 7:27:59 AM PDT
by
vollmond
(Head back to base for debriefing and cocktails.)
To: facedown
Fire! Fire! Fire! Cornholio always has the answers.
31
posted on
04/20/2005 7:28:02 AM PDT
by
numberonepal
(Don't Even Think About Treading On Me)
To: Mike Bates
Anyone have the cct board for a 12G Maxtor HD kicking around?
32
posted on
04/20/2005 7:28:50 AM PDT
by
kanawa
(Confident,Cocky,Lazy,Dead)
To: Mike Bates
Just try moving your computer when the harddrive light comes on. Bad things happen really quick.
To: Mike Bates
The correct spelling around here for that word ...
An internet spell checker's work is never done.
34
posted on
04/20/2005 7:30:05 AM PDT
by
clyde asbury
(Singe ich ein Lied für dich Von 99 Luftballons.)
To: theFIRMbss
Check what documentation? (clueless)
35
posted on
04/20/2005 7:32:13 AM PDT
by
ItsOurTimeNow
(Why yes, I am "narrow minded", thank you! See Matthew 7:14.)
To: Mike Bates
The correct spelling around here for that word is "loose," or haven't you noticed? Mike, it's liberals who care about spelling. Conservatives care about the quality of your ideas. We're the party of the people, not the party of liberal elites.
36
posted on
04/20/2005 7:32:13 AM PDT
by
GOPJ
(Liberals haven't had a new idea in 40 years.)
To: Stark_GOP
>Just try moving your computer when the harddrive light comes on
Ah, the kids these days
have no idea what a
real head crash can do . . .
To: clyde asbury
An internet spell checker's work is never done.Ah, butt sometimes you can't truss them two much.
38
posted on
04/20/2005 7:33:07 AM PDT
by
Mike Bates
(Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
To: Mike Bates
I looked at all these secure cleansing software items and decided that I'd just buy a new hard drive and hammer the old one.
Hard drives are cheap for PC's. Why pay almost the same cost for a wiper?
39
posted on
04/20/2005 7:33:27 AM PDT
by
Loud Mime
(Liberals believe in their good; a good that is void of honesty and character)
To: mewzilla
Personally, I prefer the low tech solution: a magnet and a sledge hammer.That's what I always do. Just the sledgehammer, though. Then I leave it out for some rain.
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