Wheelie Bins

[Red ones]

It's very naughty.


Why not just take it to the local Household Waste Recycling facility?

Originally Posted by justmacsv650

SMASH IT TO BITS AND MAKE SURE THE DRIVE IS DECIMATED otherwise it is only to easy for people to retrieve any information you have put on there during its lifetime----------Re telly program regarding PC's not being destroyed at dumps but being sent to India

Hes talking about a MONITOR not a base unit with hard drive.

Smashing a MONITOR to bits can be extremely dangerous and not something anyone should freely advise.

[Red ones]

I just remembered - I acually meant to write some facetious....



Wheelie bin? I can't even wheelie my SV!

Re the residual current, it does hurt but it's not life threatening, unless you have a severe heart condition or something.
Don't ask how I know this.

Oh and just for justmacsv650, there is another way to wipe your drive securely without having to remove it and destroy it.

If you find a wipe program that wipes drives to the US DoD standard [ie wipes it 7 times and overwrites every sector with a character] that would be sufficient. Its what we used to do and far less dangerous or less effort than physically destroying equipment.

It IS impossible for even the best forensic software to retrieve from that. Simply formatting the drive once is not.

is there a sense of humour bypass to this thread somewhere

Originally Posted by lynw

It IS impossible for even the best forensic software to retrieve from that. Simply formatting the drive once is not.

I'm not sure that is correct.

As I understand it, for long-standing data, the flux will create a shadow, so my changing the alignment of the heads, the data can be read.
To do this, you need to take the drive apart (and remember that a particle of smoke dust can knock a head out of alignment), so it's hardly trivial, and undoubtedly expensive. More than your average eBay'er would be willing to spend.

I thought I had an article about this bookmarked, but I can't find it. I think if you read the article about Spinrite 6 on Steve Gibsons website it may make references to this.

I've never tried this, so I don't know if it's true - it could be complete b*llox. It sounds feasible to me tho.

[ethariel]

Even wiping a HD to the US DoD standard is no longer 100% effective. Just pop it open and smash the platters to bits with a hammer.

Colin

Slight misunderstanding on my part,I thought he was changing his whole system
I do know that there is an over ride prog that deletes all the information[As use by banks and corps] just that I was really surprised that councils do not destroy PC,s but are sending them to India and Nigeria for re-cycling where people are downloading the information and using it for unlawful purposes My simple mind says to me that if I have smashed it [The Tower] and destroyed the drive somebody would be hard pushed and desperate to retreive info from an unknown source

Originally Posted by rpwoodman

I'm not sure that is correct.

As I understand it, for long-standing data, the flux will create a shadow, so my changing the alignment of the heads, the data can be read.
To do this, you need to take the drive apart (and remember that a particle of smoke dust can knock a head out of alignment), so it's hardly trivial, and undoubtedly expensive. More than your average eBay'er would be willing to spend.

I thought I had an article about this bookmarked, but I can't find it. I think if you read the article about Spinrite 6 on Steve Gibsons website it may make references to this.

I've never tried this, so I don't know if it's true - it could be complete b*llox. It sounds feasible to me tho.

I know what youre talking about but the technology required to do this is stuff you would have in a university advanced physics lab, its not stuff you could just go to dixons and get the gadget and do. :P

And its not entirely a 100% guarantee to get the right reading either.

Ethariel, interesting to know that. Things obviously moving on since I did this. Interested to know how this works and why 7 wipes is no longer safe.