Old computer backup media destruction

I took a sledgehammer to the last HDDs I took down the tip. I'm sure using this on your unwanted media would deliver the same outcome.

The tapes - pull them out of the cassettes, tangle them all up, and cut them a few times.

The discs - take them out of their plastic housings and cut them in half.

That will thwart any casual nosiness.

Floppies: if you still have a drive you could use a secure overwrite utility. In reality, simply open the case and chop them in half, which would defeat any casual reading attempt.

I had a batch of tapes which I unwound and looped between a couple of door handles, gave a tug to stretch them, and cut them into short sections. I don't think anybody would be sufficiently interested to expend the necessary resource to reconstruct them.

Chris

I've dismanted hard drives - removed the disc and bent it with a vice and hammer. Not6 much cance of it being read.

Do you honestly think anyone gives a f*ck?

Take em to the council tip and throw them in the landfill hopper.

Tapes in a cartridge, cut through them with a jigsaw. You could probably do the same with open real tapes as well.

Or grab a magnetic bulk eraser from ebay if you have lots to do.

Indeed. I think you can make one out of old bits of transformer too.

Isn't a strong magnet sufficient, like one extracted from an old HDD? Just rub it around over the outside of the tape cassette or CD.

Floppies: cut, melt or burn. Overwriting is far too slow, erasing doesn't e rase the data, just marks it as empty. I've not tried mcirowaving floppies. CD: seconds in the microwave, or break them up (more work). Cassette: erase & re-use. Or melt, burn or saw them. Not tried microwave. HDD: physically break the platter, bend, shatter or badly damage the surfac e eg by driving over it on hard paving. Paper tape: burn Open reel: erase (slow) or bulk erase (fast) & re-use. A saw is slow & mess y. Melting is another slow option.

I've little doubt that spooks either will or already have produced somethin g that can read any surviving segments on broken media. But in 99.999% of c ases no-one has any interest in your data but you. OTOH I can iamgine a fut ure scenario that might change that, and the media will likely survive your entire life if not destroyed.

NT

I remember reading somewhere that the MOD standard for destruction of HDDs is to shave the oxide off the platters. Not only that, but the MOD want the oxide back in a plastic bag, which conjures up the mental image of them being afraid of someone laboriously re-assembling the individual specks of oxide dust in the correct place on the platter :-)

For destruction of data on an HDD, even creation of a new replacement partition and reformatting will probably deter casual thieves, though I wonder how many of them nowadays have developed forensic level skills to get round quick fixes like that.

You can't beat a six-inch nail driven through the casing and the platters into a block of wood on the other side. Would a vehicle with normal inflated tyres being driven over the disk on a hard surface be enough to damage the platters or bearings enough. Maybe you need something with solid tyres - a tank or a railway locomotive :-)

Install windows ;-)

The fact that few people under 30 will even know what they are and most computers now won't even read them, renders them artifacts.

Just chuck them in the general waste.

If in doubt just cut or scratch them all.

Stack them like pancakes and drill through the (w)hole lot.

Isn't there a powerful magnet inside every microwave ?.

Yebbut it's part of the magnetron, not easily accessible, and there are some seriously high voltages in there that don't decay instantly when you switch the oven off. Getting the magnets out of an old HDD is easier and safer, I would think.

Will it blend?

All you really need consider, is is it likely that there will be any data recorded that would enable someone to commit identity theft, or carry out a resonable impersonation of you? (e.g. to gain access to your email account etc)

(even if it meant working through several levels of "low value" information to trade it up to something of more value).

If the answer is "yes", then the value is equal to whatever you have in the bank, plus whatever your credit rating allows you to borrow.

Not in the sense that putting a floppy in one makes it unreadable.

Is the data, if that old of any value? I'd tend to dissassemble the flopies and make them unusable the tapes though often have a metal back plate but without the devices to play them.... Brian