Re: How to zero a failing disk drive before disposal?

> On Oct 10, 2024, at 11:34, robert@rrbrussell.com wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Oct 10, 2024, at 10:17, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
>> 
>> On Thu, 2024-10-10 at 08:16 -0500, robert@rrbrussell.com wrote:
>>> invoke the ATA Secure Erase feature
>> 
>> ATA Secure Erase or ATA Cryptographic Key Reset are as secure as a pager
>> or walkie-talkie, as it is impossible to know whose fingers were
>> involved in their manufacture or in the supply chain.
> 
> Quit spreading FUD. The cost of building a subverted drive isn’t worth the time or money for general distribution in the economy. You need a high percentage of the drive’s physical capacity dedicated to spare space to get a decent chance of catching useable data in “reallocated” space. Of course your competition can just sell a higher capacity drive and put you out of business.
> 
> The easiest way to destroy information is forgetting the encryption key but most people don’t use FDE.
> 


Encryption is not the answer.  There is always a key that will decrypt the data.  The only issue is to find it.  NSA, M4, KGB (or whatever they are know as now), and possibly several other intel agencies have the resources to decrypt it.  Chances they would be interested in your data is pretty slim, but I have seen several times where people were able to guess the key in just a few tries. 

I believe the easiest approach is to disassemble the unit, remove the platter and sand it.  The information is in the iron oxide (brown stuff).  Sanding it removes it as dust.  This is essentially what a head crash does.  It doesn't take a lot of effort to sand it.  The head contacting the disk does a great job.  

-- Doug