From: "Matthew Pittard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > How could someone access the information if you just reformat the hard > drive? Especially if you reformat it to a different file system like > NTFS? > > Matt
Formatting and removing partitions from a hard drive is like ripping out the "index" page of a book. All the information is still there, but you have to manually search for it. You can tell your computer to read any sector on the hard drive whether the file system thinks there is a file there or not, you can then start assembling the information that is on those sectors and eventually start pirating sensitive information from your competetors, stealing credit card numbers, passwords, personal info, etc. Try it on your own computer. Another thing to keep in mind is magnetic drift and head placement error. Because of these factors, it is possible to read information that has already been over written 2 or 3 times over. To me, the only safe way to destroy the data is to destroy the hdd. Taking it apart and playing with it while it is still spinning is fun to do. Try making designs by scratching the platter. See what happens when various objects are tossed at it. Try moving the read/write head as fast as the hdd can move it. You could turn them into clocks and sell them (a friend does this). Sometimes a drill-press through various parts can be exciting -I haven't tried a band-saw yet, it'll probably ruin the blade. In the future, I'd like to try a steam-roller and dropping a hdd off of a very very high surface. Why DoD scrub them when you can destroy them? After all, hdds are now under $1/GB -that's amazing. Matt W. ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
