Re: Hard drives v. CF/Smart media/etc.

[FocusHacks <focushacks () gmail com>]

On 10/19/05, Herman Frederick Ebeling, Jr. <hfebelingjr () lycos com> wrote:
> Cool, and for those who can afford those shredding machines there's the ole
> Black & Decker drill, 10 oz ball peen
> hammer, and fire. . .

Yes, and I've done that a few times to old hard drives that I want to
throw away.

> : ...you could toss it into a microwave for 10-30 seconds.  Sure, you would
> : never be able to use it again; however, at the same time all the data
> : would be completely decimated without any question.  This is
> : borderline between physical and logical destruction.
>
> What if anything happens to the microwave?

Nothing really happens to the nuker.  A few sparks or bright glowing
spots might form on the metal surfaces of the media.  If in doubt, go
buy a cheap $10 microwave from a garage sale "just in case".  One
thing though, it does reek of fried electronics and melty plastic for
a while if you cook it too long.  10 seconds isn't a lot of time.  30
is probably for the really paranoid.

Many years ago, a mischeivious relative of mine had trouble getting a
mobile phone battery replaced under warranty after just a month, so he
pulled the battery off and microwaved his phone for about 5-10
seconds, then took it in for warranty.  Absolutely no physical damage
or evidence of abuse, but the phone was completely toast.  He got a
new phone just like his old one, and it came with a new battery.

Since then, I've tried it on a few smartmedia and compact flash drives
with good results.  I wouldn't try reading the media afterwards
though.  A nuked but intact-looking SmartMedia card ruined my USB card
reader.