This is not truly foolproof. Data can still be recovered from the spinning metal platter since it can theoretically be removed and put into a recovery device, even in a broken state.
Im addition to that, hard drives/ssd’s sometimes have small flash memory chips, from which data can sometimes be recovered.
If you want it to actually be unrecoverable then you have to actually ensure all parts thay store data are truly deleted/wiped, which is more than just the core platter. Or just use encryption and throw away the key, since all data going through the tiny OS on these devices will be encrypted. Or just store them forever in a vault.
It’s not that hard though. There are companies that offer data recovery as a service. If the value of the data on those drives exceeds the cost of those services then it becomes worth it to fish one of the drives out of the dumpster and take it there.
This is a very specialized job, your avg joe is not going to do it. Also, in the many years I’ve been in IT, I’ve never even seen a video of a platter reconstructed and get data off it.
More like they become reusable. A lot of places that refurbish donated computers for people who need them are perpetually short on drives since so much of the hardware they get have the drives pulled.
Yeah lmao. Wipe one drive at a time with a USB connector. No thanks. I don’t have bulk drive operation equipment and then it ties up a computer doing the work.
I won’t even give hard drives when recycling a computer, I pull and smash myself. Last set of old drives I cut in half with bolt cutters.
This is not truly foolproof. Data can still be recovered from the spinning metal platter since it can theoretically be removed and put into a recovery device, even in a broken state.
Im addition to that, hard drives/ssd’s sometimes have small flash memory chips, from which data can sometimes be recovered.
If you want it to actually be unrecoverable then you have to actually ensure all parts thay store data are truly deleted/wiped, which is more than just the core platter. Or just use encryption and throw away the key, since all data going through the tiny OS on these devices will be encrypted. Or just store them forever in a vault.
Bud, if you put that platter back together after I snipped it, you deserve every bit of data you get off it, 1000%
It’s not that hard though. There are companies that offer data recovery as a service. If the value of the data on those drives exceeds the cost of those services then it becomes worth it to fish one of the drives out of the dumpster and take it there.
This is a very specialized job, your avg joe is not going to do it. Also, in the many years I’ve been in IT, I’ve never even seen a video of a platter reconstructed and get data off it.
Microwave it idk
That’s overkill, a couple of passes with dd and it’s irrecoverable.
A couple of passed with dd takes way longer than bolt cutters and it’s much less satisfying
I think they meant you could wipe with dd and then they are
recyclablereusable.EDIT: s/recycleable/reusable
They’re recyclable snipped.
More like they become reusable. A lot of places that refurbish donated computers for people who need them are perpetually short on drives since so much of the hardware they get have the drives pulled.
SSDs are cheap enough, no sense in using a 10 year old mechanical drive to save $30.
Yeah lmao. Wipe one drive at a time with a USB connector. No thanks. I don’t have bulk drive operation equipment and then it ties up a computer doing the work.
Wait, you don’t just hang like 6 of them out of your desktop by their cables and wipe them while you sleep?
Mine, sure. I replaced 15 desktops that day, no fucking way.
Snip
I think bolt cutters are faster though
And significantly more power efficient
But more wasteful
They’re 500gb mechanical hard drives with financial data on them. Snip and done. No time wasted, not reusing them.
I think I’ve never disposed of one for this reason haha