Hard Drive Scrambler / Electromagnetic Radiation / Forums

Forums

4hv.org :: Forums :: Electromagnetic Radiation

« Previous topic | Next topic »

Hard Drive Scrambler

first previous 2 3 4 5 next

Move Thread

LAN_403

cduma

Tue Nov 24 2009, 10:35PM

Registered Member #1822 Joined: Fri Nov 21 2008, 08:04PM
Location:
Posts: 300

Thanks for all the ideas but, the majority of them are not exactly legal such as burning circuit boards or shooting them since we are 150' away from a residence.

doctor electrons

Wed Nov 25 2009, 12:21AM

Registered Member #2390 Joined: Sat Sept 26 2009, 02:04PM
Location: Milwaukee Wisconsin
Posts: 381

1) obtain an arc welder.
2) place drive on metal worktable. grounded.
3) flip helmet down.
4) scratch start 1/8" 7018 welding electrode on metal drive surface.
5) after arc if fully ignited, hold over platters for as long as you like..

That was easy! 0's & 1's? 2's wouldn't even live through that one!

wylie

Thu Nov 26 2009, 08:24AM

Registered Member #882 Joined: Sat Jul 07 2007, 04:32AM
Location:
Posts: 103

2's might make it. They're horrific. (Like that robot nightmare Bender had).

I think we've covered the gamut here:

Remove the platters and crush/heat/melt them. Dissolve with Acid. And finally, on topic: magnets. Lot's of workable options, though some details need to be worked out.

See if you can talk to the guy who runs the scrap lifter at your local yard. Maybe he'll let you bring in a box of drives and cling them to that magnet for a bit. Or heat. A 450deg oven might not do the trick, but heating the cases up with a propane torch doesn't seem too hard. No one is saying burn the circuit boards. Indirect heat to the pcbs shouldn't vaporize any lead in the time it would take to make the case glow red-hot.

BigBad

Mon Dec 14 2009, 04:34AM

Registered Member #2529 Joined: Thu Dec 10 2009, 02:43AM
Location:
Posts: 600

As somebody already said, the MOD and secret squirrel lot usually chip their drives- it can't be reasonably undone with current tech.

Realistically, you just probably want to degauss them. Provided it's not a 3 letter agency, practically nobody has the tech to undo a degauss.

To degauss them, just a strong enough DC supermagnet(s) should work; or any degaussing coil system you want (but the supermagnet stuff is likely to be simpler and more reliable if you engineer it right).

Conundrum

Sat Dec 26 2009, 10:39AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4062

use platters as electroplating blanks and make some cool Al objects.

:)
induction heater with work coil shaped like a hard drive would probably work.

Even the Al lid would be no match for this sort of field strength, and the heat would permanently destroy the platters without warping them allowing reuse as electrolysis plates.

(plus you get the SMD bits off the board for free!)

regards, -A
"Bother" said Pooh, as he received his exam results...

Conundrum

Fri Jan 22 2010, 08:22AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4062

...

dmg

Sat Jan 23 2010, 04:53AM

Registered Member #2628 Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627

you could always hack the drive open, take out the shiny disks and hold them against a rough bench grinder, untill the disks are pretty much too deformed to be identified as disks. as for the casing, you can probably use it as an ashtray or something, or just chuck it into a nearby river. if all else fails, throw the drives into a substation air switch >:)

rp181

Sat Jan 23 2010, 05:04AM

Registered Member #1062 Joined: Tue Oct 16 2007, 02:01AM
Location:
Posts: 1529

Hard drive platters are aluminum, it is not wise to use aluminum with grinders. The aluminum and other non ferrous metals will gum up the disc.
Aluminum and non ferrous metals are sanded.

Sulaiman

Sat Jan 23 2010, 08:17AM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3141

If the volume justifies it I would buy/build an iron-core dc electromagnet with a gap large enough to fit a drive, nothing to clever, just a full-wave rectifier from the mains feeding the coil(s) - which would be about 1000m of 1mm2 wire.
A couple of seconds would be required so duty-cycle is low.

I wouldn't use ac since the drive enclosure is a (deliberately) good shield AND the aluminium platters would (by Lenz's law) reduce the magnetic field at the disk surfaces.

I would't use permanent magnets because if something gets stuck you can't turn the magnets off.

klugesmith

Sat Jan 23 2010, 05:39PM

Registered Member #2099 Joined: Wed Apr 29 2009, 12:22AM
Location: Los Altos, California
Posts: 1716

rp181 wrote ...

Hard drive platters are aluminum, it is not wise to use aluminum with grinders. The aluminum and other non ferrous metals will gum up the disc.

That's why they call them ferrous wheels.

first previous 2 3 4 5 next

Moderator(s): Chris Russell, Noelle, Alex, Tesladownunder, Dave Marshall, Dave Billington, Bjørn, Steve Conner, Wolfram, Kizmo, Mads Barnkob