full-disclosure - Erasing a hard disk easily

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From: Jos at meltemi.co.uk (Jos Osborne)
Subject: Erasing a hard disk easily

>That's what I am going to do to the non donated units smash, drill and M80
>them.
>But for the ones I am donating I was wondering if the magnet approach was
>quick enough.
>
>Thanks.. 
>
>Marek

Any magnetic field strong enough to wipe the data will nerf the addressing tables on the disks, leaving them needing to be returned to the manufacturer.
And if you're really lucky it'll bend the platters too.

I prefer disassembling the disks - the platters make nice shiny coffee coasters.

I'm guessing that drilling a hole in the case, pouring in some sand and firing up the disk would probably do a good job of rendering the data non-readable too  ;>