full-disclosure - erase with magnet

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Message-ID: <20040403174631.GA697@sentinelchicken.org>
From: tim-security at sentinelchicken.org (Tim)
Subject: erase with magnet

> I'm interested in the original question about erasing a harddrive
> using a magnet. Is it possible to erase data on a hard disk drive with a
> powerful magnet, but then be able to use the drive and the PC again?

It probably is possible, but at my company, we tested one product which
purportedly could do this, with a relatively low drive-failure rate.

After zapping the the first drive, the drive had many bad sectors, and
the sectors that were readable still had original data on them.  (eg, I
could see the Windoze boot-sector and partition table and partition
header.)  So, until I see one work, I am skeptical.

I could still see value in using something like this on a drive that
won't spin anymore, but if you really want to erase the data on a good
drive, you should overwrite it with a wiping utility.

tim