Ways to *REALLY* erase a hard drive?

[Greysky]

I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for the
kids. Thanks.

 

[Ian Stirling]

I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were wrong.

Security torx probably.

I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for the

Super magnets (AIUI) will not do a bulk erase od the disk.
Thermite works for me.

 

[Adrian Jansen]

I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for the
kids. Thanks.

Surely the chances of it ever working again after being opened and
having a few dirty fingers on the platters are negligible ? Who is ever
going to try ? After you finish the show and tell, just remove or break
a few chips on the controller board. This will ensure its pretty
inoperable.

--
Regards,

Adrian Jansen adrianjansen at internode dot on dot net
Design Engineer J & K Micro Systems
Microcomputer solutions for industrial control
Note reply address is invalid, convert address above to machine form.

 

[Jim Thompson]

Surely the chances of it ever working again after being opened and
having a few dirty fingers on the platters are negligible ? Who is ever
going to try ? After you finish the show and tell, just remove or break
a few chips on the controller board. This will ensure its pretty
inoperable.

Maxtor's data recovery service routinely changes out the controller
board. To remove data just use an AC electromagnet.

...Jim Thompson

 

[Guy Macon]

Surely the chances of it ever working again after being opened and
having a few dirty fingers on the platters are negligible ?
Who is ever going to try ?

That would be me.

2ea 520MB western digital drives. Standard office environment,
drive cover removed, running DOS scandisk in a looping bat file.

First drive lasted 8 hours. Second drive lasted 4 hours.

I expect that even a simple dust cover would extend this time,
and that a newer, higher capacity drive would crash sooner.

 

[Guy Macon]

To remove data just use an AC electromagnet.

Radio shack sells a powerful one, cheap. Get the videotape
eraser, not the weaker audiontape eraser.

 

[DaveC]

I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was
still under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to
turn it into a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I
finally managed to get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner
platters. Someone told me a Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on
the cover plate - they were wrong. I had to drill them off. Now, I
need to know a sure fire way of wiping data off the platters for good.
The machine died before I could erase it inside the computer, so far
I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped directly onto the
platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you think this is
enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for
the kids. Thanks.

You must work for some sort of top-secret government agency. But spy's
are everywhere in elementary school. Can't be too careful.

DaveC

 

[John Larkin]

I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for the
kids. Thanks.

Just bend the platters a tiny bit.

What's on them, anyhow?

John

 

[Mac]

I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for the
kids. Thanks.

I don't have any practical experience with this, but IIRC, there is a
temperature above which magnetic materials become very free to realign
their magnetic polarity. This temperature is called the Curie temperature
or Curie point, I think.

So, if you heat the disk material above its Curie point in the presence
of a strong magnetic field (electro-magnet, maybe?) you should effectively
render the disk unreadable.

Good luck!

--Mac

 

[Paul Burke]

there is a
temperature above which magnetic materials become very free to realign
their magnetic polarity. This temperature is called the Curie temperature
or Curie point, I think.

There are various Curie points, graded from korma to vindaloo.

Paul Burke

 

[Paul \( Skiing8 \)]

Just bend the platters a tiny bit.

What's on them, anyhow?

John

be carefull, we had a drive and when we removed the cover and was in the
process of messing around with it the platter just shattered into a load of
shards, it was like glass. Sonds strange I know but thats exactly what it
was like

Paul

 

[doreme]

There are various Curie points, graded from korma to vindaloo.

Paul Burke

Think the Magdras point is what you need.

 

[Alan Turner]

Hello,

be carefull, we had a drive and when we removed the cover and was in the
process of messing around with it the platter just shattered into a load of
shards, it was like glass. Sonds strange I know but thats exactly what it
was like

Paul

The platters on some newer hard disks are made of glass. I believe the
later IBM DeskStar* (tm) series were among the first to have glass
platters. I'm not sure what the advantage is to glass, but I'd certainly
like to take one apart and have a look!


* Sometimes referred to as "DeathStar" due to reliability issues. I've not
had any trouble with the DeskStar disks I've used. Lucky me!

Regards,
Alan

 

[Keith Williams]

be carefull, we had a drive and when we removed the cover and was in the
process of messing around with it the platter just shattered into a load of
shards, it was like glass. Sonds strange I know but thats exactly what it
was like

Probably because that what it was.

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/library/whitepap/glassdisk/whiteglass.htm

 

[Al]

I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for the
kids. Thanks.

Years ago, when reel-to-reel tape recorders were popular, there was a
gadget called a bulk reel eraser. It completely wiped any information on
the tapes. In essence it was just a giant electromagent that ran on AC.
The fluctuating magnet field was suffiecient to totally erase the
information and not leave a magnetic bias on the magnetic medium. If you
can find one, you might be able to build one easily from a discarded
tranformer.

Yes, and most of the screws are Torx. But they are also held in with a
drop of some sort of glue to prevent their backing out. I've extracted
platters from dozens of drives which I got at our town's recycling
center. I do it mainly for the magnets. And the platters make neat
coasters for your drinks ;-)

Al

 

[Roger Hamlett]

Years ago, when reel-to-reel tape recorders were popular, there was a
gadget called a bulk reel eraser. It completely wiped any information on
the tapes. In essence it was just a giant electromagent that ran on AC.
The fluctuating magnet field was suffiecient to totally erase the
information and not leave a magnetic bias on the magnetic medium. If you
can find one, you might be able to build one easily from a discarded
tranformer.

Yes, and most of the screws are Torx. But they are also held in with a
drop of some sort of glue to prevent their backing out. I've extracted
platters from dozens of drives which I got at our town's recycling
center. I do it mainly for the magnets. And the platters make neat
coasters for your drinks ;-)

Beware though, that the design of digital tapes, can make them much harder
to erase, than the old audio tapes. I had an eraser of the type you are
referring to. Had happily erased any number of audio tapes, then tried a
DAT tape. It was amazingly resistant to this type of erasure (after ten
minutes, it eventually became unreadable). The same is almost certainly
true of the data on a hard disk.

Best Wishes

 

[John Larkin]

Probably because that what it was.

Well, then bending would take care of the data recovery problem.

John

 

[Guy Macon]

Years ago, when reel-to-reel tape recorders were popular, there was a
gadget called a bulk reel eraser. It completely wiped any information on
the tapes. In essence it was just a giant electromagent that ran on AC.
The fluctuating magnet field was suffiecient to totally erase the
information and not leave a magnetic bias on the magnetic medium. If you
can find one, you might be able to build one easily from a discarded
tranformer.

Like I said before, radio shack sells them. They are called video
tape bulk erasers now.

 

[John Woodgate]

There are various Curie points, graded from korma to vindaloo.

What about phall? Many Indian restaurants won't serve it to people they
don't know, because the effects on an inexperienced eater upset the
other customers. Symbol - five chilis.

 

[Barry Lennox]

I recently had a 80 gig Maxtor hard drive die on me. Though it was still
under warranty (just) I decided a much better use for it was to turn it into
a show-and-tell for the local elementary school kids. I finally managed to
get the cover off the thing, exposing the inner platters. Someone told me a
Torx 10 would fit those crazy screws on the cover plate - they were wrong.
I had to drill them off. Now, I need to know a sure fire way of wiping data
off the platters for good. The machine died before I could erase it inside
the computer, so far I have a bunch of 'super magnets' which I dropped
directly onto the platters and let them stay there overnight. Do you think
this is enough? I would like to get them as deleted as I can possibly get
them, but still be able to use the drive as a demonstration device for the
kids. Thanks.

Just a magnetic degausser works, but you need a reasonably powerful
device. IIRC you require about 3500-4500 gauss for HDDs and DAT tapes,
while most of the low-cost commercial devices are around 1000 gauss.

There's some info at http://www.datalinksales.com/degaussers/home.htm

I used to use one that look a little like a microwave oven, and the
manufacturers blurb stated it used a charged cap dumped through a
coil. Never saw a schematic or got to look at it's guts however.

Barry Lennox