Best way to destroy a harddrive's data in about 30 seconds?

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Squisher
So, I need to build an external HD enclosure out of furnace brick or furnace cement and leave the HD sitting in a bed of thermite. Sounds simple enough.

or

Buy one of those electromagnets that is made for use on a crane and have it mounted next to the hard drive. I used to have a little baby one at my old work with a permanent magnet in it to lift up to 500 lbs. The thing was like 4"X3"X8" I wonder if that would be strong enough?

issue is them cutting power on ya I am not sure you can have enough power in a UPS to sustain that kind of load. plus it takes time to erase hdds even in electromagnet.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: RichardE

Originally posted by: darkxshade

Originally posted by: RichardE

Originally posted by: darkxshade

Originally posted by: RichardE

Originally posted by: darkxshade
I'm surprised no one has thought outside the box yet. If I'm facing 30+ years and my freedom relied on destroying a HDD and I had only 30 secs before the FBI busts in, the most logical thing I can think of is to buy more time[to destroy said hdd]. Right now the best I can come up with on the fly is to set the entire house on fire and while the fire is catching on everything I would take what little time I had left(before I had to gtfo or literally diaf) to create an area that would burn the hottest like piling up paper, gasoline, and wood next to an open gas line, place the hdd on it and run the hell out of the house before it goes kaboom. I doubt the FBI has firefighters on standby for these kind of things and usually with big fires, they just let the house burn down if it can't be saved. I may get a couple of years for arson but it ain't 30+.

edit: not even sure if they'll bother to search the house once everything is burnt to hell.

Why do that when for under 50$ and a flower pot you can have your own thermite destruction kit

I'm under the assumption I'm in a normal house which usually wouldn't have thermite handy. . And if I did, I would do that but I'd still burn the house down. If my freedom for the next 30 years is on the line, I'm sure as hell going to do everything I can in 30 secs to not only destroy that hdd but to buy more for it to burn to hell and to cast doubt that anything will ever be found by the FBI.


edit: hypothetically speaking of course

I would just set up a few bowls of thermite around the house wired to a central switch that can be activated with a big red button (make sure its red), which also dumps the 20 gallons of gasoline you had set up in a wall somewhere...than run out. Might as well make it good

That's premeditated, you're assuming you knew the FBI was knocking down your doors eventually and prepared for it. That pretty much defeats the purpose of the 30 sec shotgun idea since all you needed was to flip a switch. The hypothetical situation does not include you having to prepare for the scenario else it would be something as simple as having a grinder in my room that could turn a HDD into sawdust in secs... wouldn't be a need to burn down the house then.

Well, explosions and super hot fire are much more fun than grinding imo.

I would think if you need to *seriously* consider this question, than you should make it a safe bet the FBI will eventually knock on your door.

On a side note, with all the discussion regarding clean rooms, what if you just pop the top off your hd and begin drilling holes, dumping gas/match onto the platters?

For reference I could pop the top off a HD in a few seconds, so that seems a bit easier, and to those saying take a hammer to it....I doubt you have tried that, those things are built well

I have done plenty of hdds with a hammer. Key is to use the pointy end Works even better if you don't power it off

 

[wwswimming]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Keep a drill with a sharp bit handy. Drill as many holes into the platter as you can in 30 seconds. If your HDD happens to be in a workshop with a drill press you could probably get 10 holes through it. A hand drill maybe 2 - 5 which is probably enough to make it damn near impossible to get any data off of it.

yeah, buy a Bridgeport Series 1 milling machine, for a desk.
outfit it with some good 1 1/2" diameter cutters with multiple
carbide or similar inserts. have it programmed to go into CNC
mode when you get "the knock".

unless it's just your friends playing a practical joke.

either way, when they ask for your computer, you hand them
a bag of metal chips & some salsa.