Coercivity of current HD platters?

wrote:
Nick Chalk wrote:
I don't think we have a local foundry - it's
all light industry around here, now.
You're thinking too big. Your local high school
(or trade school) with a metal shop will have a
furnace for melting metals for modest sized
castings.

Thanks for those suggestions - I'll ask around.

For a modest donation, your typical high school
metal shop will be happy to melt Big Ben for
you.

The only problem is that we're a charity. Money
happens to other people. :-/

Nick.

--
Nick Chalk ................. once a Radio Designer
Confidence is failing to understand the problem.

Zak wrote:
If your drives have glass platters, it should be
possible to destroy those with a drill press.

Does anyone know how long glass platters have been
used? What was used before glass?

We're currently receiving disks from about fifteen
to three years old.

Drill through the cover and the drill bit will
break the platters.

Hmm, might have to experiment with this. I wonder
how hazardous the operation is.

Or send them off to a recycler that handles this
kind of material.

Yes, we've been doing that up to now. We'd like to
handle the data destruction ourselves, so that
we're sure it's done properly. There are plenty of
dodgy geezers in the recycling business. :-)

Nick.

--
Nick Chalk ................. once a Radio Designer
Confidence is failing to understand the problem.

wrote:
All this talk about how to destroy disk drives
so the information can't be read any more ...
and two obvious solutions have not come up.
....

Thanks - that was much enjoyed by the other staff!

Unfortunately, chemicals, blow torches, and
firearms are not the sort of things we can leave
our clients with. We also need something
relatively fast, given the volume of equipment we
process each month.

Nick.

--
Nick Chalk ................. once a Radio Designer
Confidence is failing to understand the problem.

In article ,
Nick Chalk wrote:
wrote:
All this talk about how to destroy disk drives
so the information can't be read any more ...
and two obvious solutions have not come up.
...

Thanks - that was much enjoyed by the other staff!

Unfortunately, chemicals, blow torches, and
firearms are not the sort of things we can leave
our clients with. We also need something
relatively fast, given the volume of equipment we
process each month.

Nick.

Give them a sledge hammer and instructions to beat on the disk against
a concrete floor until the platters are bent way out of flat.

Will the person that thinks anyone can get any useful data off these
platters afterwords please raise you hand.




--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

In article ,
Nick Chalk wrote:
Zak wrote:
If your drives have glass platters, it should be
possible to destroy those with a drill press.

Does anyone know how long glass platters have been
used? What was used before glass?

We're currently receiving disks from about fifteen
to three years old.

Drill through the cover and the drill bit will
break the platters.

Hmm, might have to experiment with this. I wonder
how hazardous the operation is.

Or send them off to a recycler that handles this
kind of material.

Yes, we've been doing that up to now. We'd like to
handle the data destruction ourselves, so that
we're sure it's done properly. There are plenty of
dodgy geezers in the recycling business. :-)

Nick.


If a sledge hammer is too exciting for you, a machinist's bench press
with the right punch will do as much damage as you'd like and it moves
slowly enough to be safe, I guess.

http://www.paintain.co.uk/Automo/presses/press04.htm



--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

In article ,
Zak wrote:
If your drives have glass platters, it should be possible to destroy
those with a drill press.
Drill through the cover and the drill bit will break the platters.
This should be a very quick operation, I think.

A heavy duty nail gun might also do the trick.
--
Jim Prescott - Computing and Networking Group
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Rochester, NY

In article ,
Jim Prescott wrote:
In article ,
Zak wrote:
If your drives have glass platters, it should be possible to destroy
those with a drill press.
Drill through the cover and the drill bit will break the platters.
This should be a very quick operation, I think.

A heavy duty nail gun might also do the trick.



This huy finds a *sledge hammer* too dangerous for his
people to use.

Using a nail gun in this fashion is downright dangerous and an
incorrect use if a dangerous tool.

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

Nick Chalk wrote:

We're a homelessness charity - there's only four
staff, everyone else is a volunteer or client. We
like to avoid arming our clients when they're in
the building.

Wel, if you can't find anything better and the data is not _that_
critical, you could destroy the printed circuit board of the drive. Kick
off some components with a screwdriver (make sure it is clearly visible)
and send the drive off to a metals recycler. The broken board will make
sure the drives cannot be sold as "not tested" but only as scrap.

This could be enough prevention for your average drive of unknown origin.

Or to continue on the press idea: fit out a vise with a block on one
side. If you learn where to punch the lid this can be a very safe
process, and again is is easy to see that the drive is useless.


Thomas