full-disclosure - Erasing a hard disk easily

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Message-ID: <20040713035916.26034.qmail@web52201.mail.yahoo.com>
From: javier at liendo.net (Javier Liendo)
Subject: Erasing a hard disk easily

hello

i've read that physically removing the disk plates
from a modern hard disk is more than enough to make
the information contained there imposible to read. the
servo information that is stored on each plate is very
sensitive to the relative position of the disks
themselves and the heads on the disk at the moment
that the disk is build so if you phisically remove the
disk plates from the spinddle it is almost imposible
to correctly align all the plates in order to
reconstruct the servo information needed in order to
make the "hard disk" work correctly...

saludos

javier

--- "Schmidt, Michael R."
<Michael.Schmidt@...obile.com> wrote:
> IDE drives are typically formatted "at the factory"
> so you may actually make the drives unusable if you
> use a magnet.
> 
> Michael R. Schmidt
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: full-disclosure-admin@...ts.netsys.com
> [mailto:full-disclosure-admin@...ts.netsys.com]On
> Behalf Of amilabs
> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 11:49 AM
> To: full-disclosure@...ts.netsys.com
> Subject: [Full-Disclosure] Erasing a hard disk
> easily
> 
> 
> I have a bunch of old computers I would like to
> donate. Old laptops with win
> 95/98 on them and some old tower desktops all circa
> 1995-2k.
> I would like to know if I can just use a magnet to
> completely wipe out the
> data for obvious security reasons. I have heard
> about the disk erasers like
> active kill and Perl utilities for this but with the
> ability of data
> ghosting etc. is this enough? Can I use a big magnet
> like a speaker magnet
> or something like a degasser to just wipe out the
> data without having to
> boot these old boxes and go through all the extra
> work.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> _______________________________________________
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