Wiping Dead HD

  • Thread starter Thread starter MF
  • Start date Start date
kony said:
Expensive? Bag of charcoal would do it, absorbs moisture
when drive cools and draws air it, drives off moisture when
drive heats up and exhausts. Regardless of this theory,
drives DO freqently have the vent whether they have fancy
filter and charcoal or just a very fine filter.
Click to expand...

Fair enough I stand corrected. A carbon filter could stop moisture, but I
still don't see how do they stop microscopic bits or even molecules of the
filter substance (carbon = conductive?) from entering the drive?
 
Fair enough I stand corrected. A carbon filter could stop moisture, but I
still don't see how do they stop microscopic bits or even molecules of the
filter substance (carbon = conductive?) from entering the drive?
Click to expand...

Not carbon filter, just carbon or other desiccant in a
porous sack secured inside. Filter itself is some sort of
white synthetic material, IIRC. I've not seen the sack in
all drives though and now I can't remember, which.

Nothing's perfect, yet a very fine filter must do a pretty
good job.
 
HDD's are usually vented to the outside through an elaborate filter to
equalize pressure.
Click to expand...

he could fill it thru that hole slowly with pure alcohol & cook it
later on the stove slowly (with windows opened not to get drunk by
inhaling vapours) :-) ... just an idea ...
IMHO the magnetic surface would melt down from platters ...
 
HankG said:
How about a bulk tape eraser (if you can find one)!
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking, but haven't come up with a place that has one.

A guy who knows his TVs and monitors tried a CRT degausser, and that didn't
work.

Thanks to all for the suggestions

Mike
 
Hi, all
Anyone know a practical, effective way to erase a hard drive that is deader
than a brick? It's a West. Digital 60 gig 7200 RPM. It won't spin up and
WD's diagnostic utilities won't recognize it. It went out a few days before
the warranty expired and I want to try to return it, but it has _lots_ of
sensitive info on it, and, dead or not, I don't want it in the hands of
strangers.

By practical, I mean something accessible to the average bozo, like me.
Running it thru an MRI scanner might be worth a try, but not too
practical....

Thanks!

Mike
Click to expand...
Don't know if it would work if the drive wasn't fully functional, but
something like this (http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/diskjockey.ars)
has the potential to wipe hard drives relatively painlessly.

HTH.

CK
 
:)

too soon. still have almost a month on the RMA. maybe burial then, with
guinness and glenfiddich, and margaritas for the parrot heads/south of the
border types. And Irish dancing.

Ooops, better watch what i'm saying or i'll have to live up to it.

Mike
 
Back
Top