Can I erase sensitive data on an old hard drive with Neodymium Magnets?
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Re: Can I erase sensitive data on an old hard drive with Neodymium Magnets?
#2Even if the test would have succeeded, this is a bad idea.
With a magnetic swipe card that you demagnetize so it is no longer read successfully, you may well be able to recover the information using a better reader.
Depending on drive age the same may be possible using a hard drive.
The best option for modern drives is still to use software to wipe the drive and if reuse is not required destroy the reading mechanism and platters.
Re: Can I erase sensitive data on an old hard drive with Neodymium Magnets?
#3Hard disks are surprisingly hard to destroy on-demand. There was a DEF CON 23 talk [1] exploring ways to quickly wipe your servers in situ using physical methods.
Re: Can I erase sensitive data on an old hard drive with Neodymium Magnets?
#4If you want to get rid of a harddrive with sensitive data I would first suggest that one gets familiar with the thought of not being able to sell it as used.
Personally for my drives, I use Boot and Nuke to erase the drive three times, first with zeroes, then with random data, then with zeroes again. After that I disassemble the drive, put a strong magnet over each platter, shredder the drive into almost powder, burn the pieces in a fire and then throw away the leftovers. Probably overkill but I want to be certain.
Re: Can I erase sensitive data on an old hard drive with Neodymium Magnets?
#5If you want to get rid of a harddrive with sensitive data I would first suggest that one gets familiar with the thought of not being able to sell it as used. Personally for my drives, I use Boot and Nuke to erase the drive three times, first with zeroes, then with random data, then with zeroes again. After that I disassemble the drive, put a strong magnet over each platter, shredder the drive into almost powder, burn…
Normally you'd want to throw the remains into a volcano but I guess if you feel safe just throwing it away then you do you.
Re: Can I erase sensitive data on an old hard drive with Neodymium Magnets?
#6If you want to get rid of a harddrive with sensitive data I would first suggest that one gets familiar with the thought of not being able to sell it as used. Personally for my drives, I use Boot and Nuke to erase the drive three times, first with zeroes, then with random data, then with zeroes again. After that I disassemble the drive, put a strong magnet over each platter, shredder the drive into almost powder, burn…
You throw away the leftovers instead of vitrification and firing the mass into space? /s
Re: Can I erase sensitive data on an old hard drive with Neodymium Magnets?
#7Even if the test would have succeeded, this is a bad idea. With a magnetic swipe card that you demagnetize so it is no longer read successfully, you may well be able to recover the information using a better reader. Depending on drive age the same may be possible using a hard drive. The best option for modern drives is still to use software to wipe the drive and if reuse is not required destroy the reading mechanism…
I won't say it's completely impossible, but modern HDD read heads are already close to our technical limit, and the signal they get is so noisy as to require extensive processing.
There definitely was a period where labs could recover data this way, but I think it's passed.
Re: Can I erase sensitive data on an old hard drive with Neodymium Magnets?
#8If you want to get rid of a harddrive with sensitive data I would first suggest that one gets familiar with the thought of not being able to sell it as used. Personally for my drives, I use Boot and Nuke to erase the drive three times, first with zeroes, then with random data, then with zeroes again. After that I disassemble the drive, put a strong magnet over each platter, shredder the drive into almost powder, burn…
Normally you'd want to throw the remains into a volcano but I guess if you feel safe just throwing it away then you do you.
He forgot to mention he has purchased a steel foundry for the triennial purpose of zeroed-out drive disposal.
Re: Can I erase sensitive data on an old hard drive with Neodymium Magnets?
#9If you want to get rid of a harddrive with sensitive data I would first suggest that one gets familiar with the thought of not being able to sell it as used. Personally for my drives, I use Boot and Nuke to erase the drive three times, first with zeroes, then with random data, then with zeroes again. After that I disassemble the drive, put a strong magnet over each platter, shredder the drive into almost powder, burn…
All that effort just to get rid of some hentai...
Re: Can I erase sensitive data on an old hard drive with Neodymium Magnets?
#10If you want to get rid of a harddrive with sensitive data I would first suggest that one gets familiar with the thought of not being able to sell it as used. Personally for my drives, I use Boot and Nuke to erase the drive three times, first with zeroes, then with random data, then with zeroes again. After that I disassemble the drive, put a strong magnet over each platter, shredder the drive into almost powder, burn…
You throw away the leftovers instead of vitrification and firing the mass into space? /s
A tokamak or a stellerator are also fit for purpose. The advantage is that the toridial magnetic fields that contain the fusion plasma also give the surviving bits another good hammering before vaporisation.