How to erase a hard disk completely?

"Chris F.A. Johnson" <c.f.a.johnson@rogers.com> writes:


] Or get a magnetic bulk tape eraser. ;)

Terrible idea. It will leave the data almost completely untouched--
maybe unreadable by the standard disk heads, but readable by anoyone
really determined.

On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 21:22:38 +0000, mjt wrote:

> ... how about one of those huge magnets used for
> submarine navigation? :)

May just as well shoot the drive. That kind of magnetic erasure will also
destroy the servo information on the platters. Without the servo tracks
the positioning mechanism will never work again.

Dave Uhring wrote:
> On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 21:22:38 +0000, mjt wrote:
>
>> ... how about one of those huge magnets used for
>> submarine navigation? :)
>
> May just as well shoot the drive. That kind of magnetic erasure will also
> destroy the servo information on the platters. Without the servo tracks
> the positioning mechanism will never work again.

..... what's cool, if you really think about your answer, the
destruction happened without TOUCHING the drive :))

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael J. Tobler: motorcyclist, surfer, # Black holes result
skydiver, and author: "Inside Linux", # when God divides the
"C++ HowTo", "C++ Unleashed" # universe by zero

On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 21:49:04 +0000, mjt wrote:

> .... what's cool, if you really think about your answer, the
> destruction happened without TOUCHING the drive :))

The problem with doing it that way is that micro-forensic examination of
the platters will still reveal the information which was stored there,
even if the servo system can no longer read the positioning information.
The data's magnetic domains will still be there, although somewhat faint.

The media must be destroyed completely in order that the data be destroyed
- if one is really paranoid about compromise of that data. Incineration
in a blast furnace or cement kiln is probably ideal.