[ale] Hard Drive destruction/data distruction techniques revisited

[tom]

Twice that I can remember in the past few years ALE has had fun with the 
concept of sanitizing the data held on a hard disk. Just for funsies, I 
tried to total up the concepts proposed. I've gotten the list partially 
togother, and thought I'd let others ensure completeness and correctness.

I've indicated a guess as to the level of security, which others who know 
better should correct, and listed objections/drawbacks as they came to 
mind. Nit picking fodder...

I've also guestimated at the level of satisfaction delivered, as in "This 
isn't actually work, I'm getting some pleasure out of this." Obviously 
highly subjective.

In no concious order other than lumping related ideas together as a class.

1) Software
 	- Probably not TLA secure
 	- Probably not very satisfying
 	- Device should be reusable
 	- Minimal environmental impact (due to reuse)
 	- Not applicable to mechanically dead drives

2) "Will it Blend?" aka mechanical shredding
 	Put the HD through a mechanical shredder/blender and reduce to
 	shards
 	- Probably TLA secure
 	- Requires special equipment
 	- No reuse possible
 	- Probably not very satisfying, although capable of industrial
 		scale

3) "Vampire Treatment" or giving a disk religion by making it holey
 	Drive spikes through HD, or drill multiple holes through HD
 	- Probably not TLA secure - will defeat almost everybody else
 	- No special equipment required
 	- No reuse
 	- ? satisfaction
 	- May not scale to high volumes well

4) Platter sanding
 	Disassemble HD and sand the magnetic oxide off the platter
 	- TLA secure
 	- No special equipment required
 	- No reuse
 	- I'd call this work, no satisfaction involved
 	- Let's not talk about scaling this to production levels

5) Target Practice
 	Take firearms (or any other kinetic energy impact device) and use
 	the HD for target practice. Then shoot the debree(sp?)
 	- Not guarenteed to be TLA secure, probably is tho
 	- Probably needs special equipment (mostly shooting range)
 	- No reuse
 	- definite satisfaction potiential
 	- limited scale, although the pleasure may scale with volume
 	- could have environmental impact as picking up the shards may
 		become important

6) Chemical pickeling
 	Soak/dissolve the platter in any of HCl, HF, H2SO2
 	- TLA secure
 	- There will be difficulties with disposing of hazardous materials
 	- No reuse
 	- Needs some special equipment, but might scale up moderately
 	- Limited satisfaction value

6) High field magnetic treatment
 	- Should be TLA secure, pretty certain secure against anybodyelse
 	- reuse might be theoretically possible
 	- really need some special equipment
 	- highly variable satisfaction - hanging paperclips off a freshly
 		magnatized hd may or may not provide enough amusement to
 		all
 	- definitely isn't going to scale well.

7) High tech BBQ -  thermite
 	Expose the HD to a source of intense heat - say thermite or a
 	cutting torch - until the mass is fused
 	- TLA secure
 	- Requires special equipment
 	- No reuse
 	- Should give fair amount of satisfaction
 	- ?? environmental impact??
 	- Could scale moderately well
 	- With correct control, might give an art project - think Han Solo
 		in carbonite. (There is a whole range of thermite
 		reactions, the AL/rust one is the most popular due to
 		being the hottest. There are "cooler" reactions avail)

9) Kinetic Energy aka Rail Gun ammunition
 	Use the HD as ammunition in a kinetic energy situation. ie. a rail
 	gun, a trebuche launch into a rock, rocket motor into steel
 	plate...
 	- ? TLA security not assured
 	- No reuse
 	- Special equipment
 	- Could be satisfying, could be work.
 	- ? probably would not scale well


Have I missed any ideas at all?

Somehow, I see the potiential for a technical paper - "Investigations into 
the Secure Deletion of Hard Disk Based Data"