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

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Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
68,417
12,595
126
www.anyf.ca
Originally posted by: Perknose
It'd obviously take longer than 30 seconds, but the only SURE way to guarantee that no data could ever be recovered from your hard drive would be to drop it off at your nearest CompUSA for repair.

LOL

 

CrazyLazy

Platinum Member
Jun 21, 2008
2,124
0
0
Originally posted by: LordMorpheus
Originally posted by: ed21x
it will spark up and burn in the microwave. The whole HD will be melted within a minute.

Have you tried that? I doubt the microwave electronics can produce enough energy to melt a hard drive in a minute. I imagine you'll ruin the electronics and break the microwave, but not actually kill the platters.

Here's another question. Isn't destruction of evidence a felony, too? How do you make it look like an accident?

And what about just using an encrypted file system. Until a supercomputer is invented, you don't have to worry about someone cracking a modern encryption scheme.

I think there was a court case somewhere that ruled that not giving up an encryption key wasn't protected by the right to remain silent.

Maybe encrypt the disk with a USB key holding the key, and destroy the key when the feds show up.

It's not evidence if they don't know what's on it. You could just claim you do that with all your files for secure deletion, and they caught you at a bad time. They might be able to get you for destruction of evidence in the end, but I imagine carries a lot less time then a lot of other stuff you could get got for.
 

Nik

Lifer
Jun 5, 2006
16,101
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Originally posted by: Farang
Originally posted by: skyking
30 seconds? You could empty a 9MM magazine into it, I doubt they'd have a fun time with 15 holes through it.

If feds are coming in your door and you're blasting off 9MM rounds, the data on the hard drive is probably the least of your worries.

Not to mention that I've never seen any of the 9mm rounds I've shot at several dozen HDDs actually do any damage, either. I did put a very nice dent into a HDD with a well-placed shot from an AK though. :) It didn't go all the way through, but it did absolutely destroy the drive, the platters, everything.
 

FDF12389

Diamond Member
Sep 8, 2005
5,234
7
76
Originally posted by: irishScott
Originally posted by: Farang
Originally posted by: skyking
30 seconds? You could empty a 9MM magazine into it, I doubt they'd have a fun time with 15 holes through it.

If feds are coming in your door and you're blasting off 9MM rounds, the data on the hard drive is probably the least of your worries.

silencer?

weapons charge
 

Nik

Lifer
Jun 5, 2006
16,101
2
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Originally posted by: FDF12389
Originally posted by: irishScott
Originally posted by: Farang
Originally posted by: skyking
30 seconds? You could empty a 9MM magazine into it, I doubt they'd have a fun time with 15 holes through it.

If feds are coming in your door and you're blasting off 9MM rounds, the data on the hard drive is probably the least of your worries.

silencer?

weapons charge

Not if it's made before/after the ban and/or you have a permit for it. Still, best-case scenario is probably discharging a firearm inside city limits?
 

Nik

Lifer
Jun 5, 2006
16,101
2
56
Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
1. buy a 32 gb sd card.
2. eat, melt, stuff sd card up ass.

hdds are so old school

What bit of hardware did your computer boot off of this morning? You know, the one you used to type up that post and click submit on?
 

Biggerhammer

Golden Member
Jan 16, 2003
1,531
0
0
Flower pot with powdered iron and sparklers on top of the computer case?

Hope that the FBI is trained in class-4 fire fighting or your house is probably joining your hard drive in the 'toast' category.
 

Nik

Lifer
Jun 5, 2006
16,101
2
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Originally posted by: Biggerhammer
Flower pot with powdered iron and sparklers on top of the computer case?

Hope that the FBI is trained in class-4 fire fighting or your house is probably joining your hard drive in the 'toast' category.

uh... *cough*whatkindofflowerpot*cough*


*shifty eyes*
 

l0cke

Diamond Member
Dec 12, 2005
3,790
0
0
Western Digital used to have this tool for IDE drives that you could plug in. It would tell you the reaming free space, and you could also completely zero a drive in about 10 seconds. You might be able to pull that off.
 

ConstipatedVigilante

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2006
7,670
1
0
Originally posted by: Biggerhammer
Flower pot with powdered iron and sparklers on top of the computer case?

Hope that the FBI is trained in class-4 fire fighting or your house is probably joining your hard drive in the 'toast' category.

...powdered iron isn't going to do anything by itself. You need rusty powdered iron! And aluminum!
 

Nik

Lifer
Jun 5, 2006
16,101
2
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Originally posted by: l0cke
Western Digital used to have this tool for IDE drives that you could plug in. It would tell you the reaming free space, and you could also completely zero a drive in about 10 seconds. You might be able to pull that off.

Turning all the bits to 0's takes a long time. One single pass from a wipe means turning all the bits to 0's and then turning them all to 1's. Try a 7-pass wipe (old NSA standards, could be outdated by now) on a drive and it could take between hours for very small drives to several days for large drives.

Oh, and just turning all the bits to 0's once doesn't really do much to thwart data recovery insitutions.

The only way to permanently destroy data on a HDD in 30 seconds is physical destruction.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
68,417
12,595
126
www.anyf.ca
Originally posted by: Nik
Originally posted by: l0cke
Western Digital used to have this tool for IDE drives that you could plug in. It would tell you the reaming free space, and you could also completely zero a drive in about 10 seconds. You might be able to pull that off.

Turning all the bits to 0's takes a long time. One single pass from a wipe means turning all the bits to 0's and then turning them all to 1's. Try a 7-pass wipe (old NSA standards, could be outdated by now) on a drive and it could take between hours for very small drives to several days for large drives.

Oh, and just turning all the bits to 0's once doesn't really do much to thwart data recovery insitutions.

The only way to permanently destroy data on a HDD in 30 seconds is physical destruction.

And the bigger the drive the longer it takes...

I use a program called shred (seems to be standard on Linus systems) and usually do a 8 pass randomization pass follows by a write of zeros. About a week for a 500GB drive.
 

l0cke

Diamond Member
Dec 12, 2005
3,790
0
0
After thinking about this a bit more, here would be the real way to do it:

Use truecrypt with hidden partitions to encrypt all data with 256-bit AES. Get a USB stick to use as a keyfile. When the FBI comes for you, break the keyfile stick in half and flush it down the toilet. This would make it 100% impossible to recover any of the data, and you only have to worry about 1 stick instead of a whole HDD.

If you really wanted to be safe, use ZFS to create a Raid 5 array out of USB sticks, and use files on that raid as keyfiles.

I still like the thermite ideas though.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
96,908
16,174
126
Originally posted by: Tobolo
I use a large bore rifle.

Theoretically sound, except if you do that, the swat will shoot your ass dead. I say op buy a whole bunch of these


http://www.engadget.com/2008/0...rd-reader-scares-pets/


and a whole bunch of

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...2136011&Tpk=raptor%20x

when the shit hits the fan, break glass, sprinkle polishing sand into the window and let the drive do its own killing.

But if you are truly paranoid, you would not have local storage. Run a fibre to a remote location. Have 3 backup persons on standby, if you do not regularly send safe signal, they destroy data.
 
Dec 26, 2007
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Originally posted by: ed21x
it will spark up and burn in the microwave. The whole HD will be melted within a minute.

LOL Try that on an old HD and let us know how well that works....

Originally posted by: Dumac
Other than melting it in lava or blowing it up, nothing. Techies can recover erased hard drive data pretty easily, despite being wiped, magnetized, or other extreme methods.

Not entirely true. All you have to do is make it next to impossible to recover the drive for example. The 3 ways to prevent data from being recovered are 1: melting 2: de-magnetize it under a high powered magnet 3: shred it to the point where they can't put the parts back together. There was a great one I saw from one of the tech trade shows, where it reduced the HD to small little chips (think of a CD shredder type chips). Option 3 gives some chance of data being recovered if they can put the pieces back together, but shred 2+ HD's and that chance of recovery becomes effectively impossible to do.

Originally posted by: daniel1113
I keep one of these near my computer just in case.

^^Winnar.


Train vs HD :D
 

Skyclad1uhm1

Lifer
Aug 10, 2001
11,383
87
91
If you need to prepare anyway to be able to do it why not just pick a neighbour you do not like, put some high explosives at his house, and when they come to your house detonate them? That should distract them long enough for you to hide the harddisk outside your house :D
 

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
136
Liquid nitrogen + hammer smash + vat of sulfuric acid

If you are an evil genius with an adequate lair, you will have these items laying around. And giant lasers/death rays, of course.
And sharks. Don't forget the sharks.
 

ryan256

Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2005
2,514
0
71
With the amount of time you will have there is only 1 way to guarantee data destruction. Thermite!!

You will need to build a deep ceramic "tub" in your computer for your hard drives to sit in. This is to hopefully contain the slag and keep it from setting the whole place on fire! Next take a ceramic flower pot and drill some .75" holes in the bottom. Cut the top of the pot off so what you have left is only about 3" deep. Next take a piece of paper, fold it a few times, and cut it to shape to fit in the bottom of your flower pot and cover the holes. Now fill it with thermite. You may want to experiment on just how much thermite you will need depending on the number of hard drives you need to melt. Next rig up some kind of electric ignition device and place the igniter deep in the pot. Set your hard drives in the tub and place the flower pot on top.

When you hit the switch it will ignite the thermite and completely melt your drives. No data recovery possible.
 

PokerGuy

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
13,650
201
101
Originally posted by: PlasmaBomb
Originally posted by: Dumac
Other than melting it in lava or blowing it up, nothing. Techies can recover erased hard drive data pretty easily, despite being wiped, magnetized, or other extreme methods.

Great I had a small accident with my hard drive...

http://i113.photobucket.com/al.../Thermiteharddrive.jpg

Anyone think they can recover the data from it?

Not a problem, the new MAC can handle it! ;)
 
Feb 19, 2001
20,155
23
81
Originally posted by: SKORPI0
Sulfuric acid on platters.

Yeah, make some strong etching stuff like aqua regia or whatever and your data is GONE.

Originally posted by: TridenTBoy3555
Originally posted by: SSSnail
Originally posted by: Dumac
Other than melting it in lava or blowing it up, nothing. Techies can recover erased hard drive data pretty easily, despite being wiped, magnetized, or other extreme methods.

Uh, no.

Let's just say I work VERY closely with digital forensics, and let me tell you it's not that easy to recover data as Hollywood made out to believe, nor it is easy to get rid of it (as suggested in popular movies by running magnets along the rigs).

In all seriousness, if you want to be a criminal and not get caught, it's very easy.

1. Open your wireless router.
2. Acquire boot CD or any of the light OS variant (Helix, BART PE, etc...)
3. Perform illegal activities in that environment.
4. ...
5. Profits?

Disclaimer, I do not condone any illegal activities that may be the results of what I post. All this information is freely distributed and easily found on Google. Tomorrow's lesson: Offshore Dynamic DNS.

This!

It is NOT easy to get all that evidence back... You put it up to a magnet or wipe it with DBAN and you are good to go. :)

DBAN doesn't guarantee anything. A 1 that has always been a 1 for a long time and now a 0 is different from a 0 thats been a 0 for a long time. Low level sensors can still pick up the differences in magnetic reading. But it would take an insane amount of work.


Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Originally posted by: ed21x
it will spark up and burn in the microwave. The whole HD will be melted within a minute.

Why do you think that? From my knowledge of how a microwave works I can't imagine that would happen. Microwaves need dipolar molecules (like water) to produce heat. I've destroyed a few things in microwaves but I don't think a HDD would be destroyed.

Magnetic materials will go insane under microwave. If the stuff bubbles, take it out and give it a good whack. When ferromagnetic materials are hot, shock will totally reorient all the domains thus screwing all your data up.