Think your data is safe

[A.B.Normal]

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/06/one_year_ago_ha.html#posts

Hank Gerbus holds his prodigal computer hard drive, which was supposed to have been destroyed by Best Buy but turned up six months later in the hands of a stranger. Photo: WLWT-TV

 

[Professur]

The only time I'm sure my data's safe is after I drill holes in the drive. We did that service for a bank that was sending old comps to a recycler. The recycler wanted to hash the drives. well, we made a right hash of them.

Laptop drives have glass platters. We smash them with a 2lbs hammer before discarding them.

 

[HomeLAN]

Well...yeah. If they wouldn't give my old HARD DRIVE back to me, I'd insist on watching them destroy it. Drill a hole, hell, even throw it to the floor a few times. Make it so that you'd need a pro to get anything off it.

Of course, since I build my own, it's a bit of a moot point. If I need to replace a HD under warranty, it meets the garage floor pretty hard a few times before I send it in.

 

[Inkara1]

That's pretty amazing since you don't even have a garage.

 

[Professur]

I wasn't gonna say anything ....

 

[HomeLAN]

Carport, then. Nit pickin' little batiches.....

 

[Professur]

Y'know, it wouldn't take much to close it in. And a closed garage does add much more to the resale value of a house compared to a car port. Up here, an open carport adds zip.

 

[HomeLAN]

Nah. It frankly isn't worth it to me. It's not like I'm changing sparkplugs in a -25 degree wind like you are, Nanook.

 

[Professur]

Y'know, there's a house on your street (the blue one) for sale, and a certified tech job I've got my eye on that could easily land me as your neighbour.

 

[HomeLAN]

Come on down. You'd be a damned sight better neighbor than the one leaving. The only loss there is their kids, and you've got replacements. V2.0 would be thrilled.

 

[catocom]

Well...yeah. If they wouldn't give my old HARD DRIVE back to me, I'd insist on watching them destroy it. Drill a hole, hell, even throw it to the floor a few times. Make it so that you'd need a pro to get anything off it.

Of course, since I build my own, it's a bit of a moot point. If I need to replace a HD under warranty, it meets the garage floor pretty hard a few times before I send it in.

Ditto.
I had to recover some data from a Dell one time, and I made sure that nothing
else could be recovered, after I got through.