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Is this my hard drive?

You can get a USB external disk case on Amazon for less than $10. Then your disk can have a second life as a backup device for your important files. A useful second life might be better than death by hammer. Not that I haven't dealt with computer parts that desperately deserved death by hammer...
 
natsb said:
You can get a USB external disk case on Amazon for less than $10. Then your disk can have a second life as a backup device for your important files. A useful second life might be better than death by hammer. Not that I haven't dealt with computer parts that desperately deserved death by hammer...
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I recommend the Western Digital external USB backup drives. Cheap - I think I paid 90 bucks for a 3 TB drive - and I've always found their drives quite reliable, whether internal or external.
 
MaggieD said:
Oooo!! Love the BBQ idea!! Thank you, USN!
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Might I suggest a dry rub with cracked peppercorn, kosher salt, paprika, a pinch of garlic and some graphite?
 
natsb said:
You can get a USB external disk case on Amazon for less than $10. Then your disk can have a second life as a backup device for your important files. A useful second life might be better than death by hammer. Not that I haven't dealt with computer parts that desperately deserved death by hammer...
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Err. Trust important backup files to an old hard drive that's seen it's lifetime and perhaps more? Not sure that I'd be inclined to do that.
 
Mr Person said:
I recommend the Western Digital external USB backup drives. Cheap - I think I paid 90 bucks for a 3 TB drive - and I've always found their drives quite reliable, whether internal or external.
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Ive had a hit and miss experience with WD drives. Since you mentioned amazon look at the customer ratings ( one of the most useful things about amazon ) if people love it then there you go. occasionally there are bad models prone to failure.
But the USB external drives are pretty handy. I did buy a WD usb 3.0 external 1tb Mypassport drive off Amazon not long ago for like $59 that I gave to my mom so she could back up her data. its worked well for her.
 
MaggieD said:
Someone told me to put a nail through it about ten times and soak it in water to destroy it. Okay by you?
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Hey MaggieD.

You might just send it to the California Legislature. They tend to destroy everything they get their hands on..... ;)
 
Yep. That's the hard drive. Makes you wonder what a soft drive looks like. Anyway, I'd toss it up in the yard and shoot it with a 12 gage shotgun. Good practice, and it's fun. You could turn it into a block party. Everybody can bring their old hard drives and just have a shoot around. Hell, you might even get an opportunity to bag an annoying neighbor.
 
humbolt said:
Yep. That's the hard drive. Makes you wonder what a soft drive looks like. Anyway, I'd toss it up in the yard and shoot it with a 12 gage shotgun. Good practice, and it's fun. You could turn it into a block party. Everybody can bring their old hard drives and just have a shoot around. Hell, you might even get an opportunity to bag an annoying neighbor.
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'member.....





sdf.jpg
 
BillRM said:
When I add a computer to my household the first thing I do is encrypted the whole disk with AES level cipher before placing any private information on it and there after I could mail the old hard drive to the NSA without any concerns.

But it would not hurt for the hell of it to do a one time pass with randoms numbers.

No need to hit the poor thing with a sledge hammer or drill holes in it.

Footnote the FBI had been paying for example best buy technicians to search their customers hard drives and report anything of question on the drives including erase spaces.

Constitution what constitution?
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I drilled a few holes in mine then left it over night in 32% swimming pool acid - muriatic acid aka hydrochloric - then rinsed it out and tossed it.
 
chuckiechan said:
I drilled a few holes in mine then left it over night in 32% swimming pool acid - muriatic acid aka hydrochloric - then rinsed it out and tossed it.
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Actually, I labeled it "Property of Hillary Clinton" and sent it to the FBI. It will never seen again.
 
MaggieD said:
Throwing out an old computer. I think this photo is front and back of the hard drive, but want to be sure so Incan properly destroy it. Am I correct?

View attachment 67220236View attachment 67220237

Oops, sorry they're upside down...
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Yes and the thing is it depends on who you want to prevent from using it on how you handle it. For any hacker with software, a simple zero pas or three will prevent anyone who wants that data from getting it outside the fbi and the military. This is because beyond a single pass software can no longer find it, and it takes expensive hardware to trace magnetic imprints, something your average credit card theif can not afford.

If you destroy it you do the same thing as software can, however this will not stop the fbi or the military from reading it, if you are hiding stuff from them all bets are off you are on your own, if you are trying to hide personal data, try using dban aka dans burn and nuke, which reformats the hard drive then zero fills it from one pass to 35 passes which is beyond what any hacker outside a govt can access.
 
MaggieD said:
Someone told me to put a nail through it about ten times and soak it in water to destroy it. Okay by you?
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It's best to find the screw type that turns the screws, open the casing and then smash the platter to smithereens (but wrap it in a towel first). I can't speak for everyone, but I tried using a cobalt drill bit on an old hard drive. That casing must have been made of adamantium because the drill couldn't get through the damn thing.
 
beerftw said:
Yes and the thing is it depends on who you want to prevent from using it on how you handle it. For any hacker with software, a simple zero pas or three will prevent anyone who wants that data from getting it outside the fbi and the military. This is because beyond a single pass software can no longer find it, and it takes expensive hardware to trace magnetic imprints, something your average credit card theif can not afford.

If you destroy it you do the same thing as software can, however this will not stop the fbi or the military from reading it, if you are hiding stuff from them all bets are off you are on your own, if you are trying to hide personal data, try using dban aka dans burn and nuke, which reformats the hard drive then zero fills it from one pass to 35 passes which is beyond what any hacker outside a govt can access.
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Thirty five passes should take a few weeks at most computer/hard drive speeds and one random number pass should be good enough short of the drive ending up in a room full of millions of dollars worth of analyzer equipment and people train to used it.

Once more the best bet for future use is to encrypted your drives before you place anything of important on them with at least AES 256 and when you retired them run a one time pass of random numbers on them for good luck.
 
I just bought a new 6 TB external HD for $200. Its going to take me days to back everything up.
 
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