Gregory's ServerHitachi HDD: Z7K320-250 / 250GB / SATA 3.0Gb/s.
Data erasure method: 50lb Longbow, two arrows at 15 yards.
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183 comments
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 Posted this on the birdcage a while back. Just wanted to have it here. Oh, and for any that doubt the reliability of this method, I could pour out the glass substrate (platter completely bent), thousands of tiny shards. Gone baby gone @JulianOliver someone is gonna try rebuilding a platter at some point and say that's recoverable :D  @JulianOliver I wonder if you couldn't make some sort of "Artisinal data erasure service" out of this. Like folks send you a drive. You shoot it with arrows & photograph results (including serial numbers) and they can show off to boss / coworkers that they did it. Might be an entertaining little side-stream of money with good word of mouth. :D @masukomi @JulianOliver You could add a slow-motion replay as the arrow hits the drive. Maybe even an animation showing the amount of data obliterated. @spectrumtroglodyte @JulianOliver is the slo-mo something you pay extra for? I World assume so. amount of data obliterated would be… potentially dangerous from a legal liability perspective. @masukomi @JulianOliver Imho, you either offer tools for the pleasure of doing this themselves, or you get one of these to offer warranty of destruction. 😁 @Wildduck @masukomi @JulianOliver Well, one way to test the warranty of destruction of that is to drop a computer's C:\ drive into that and then take the remains of it to your local FBI Field Office, and tell them that you managed to recover this and it has a lot of import intel on it from someone who is working with a far-right group to overthrow the U.S. Government to install a dictator, and it also contains plans for major terrorist attacks against the U.S., to see what they would do with it. @ShingoMouse @Wildduck @JulianOliver I don’t see how that would help. They already know about Trump supporters. @ShingoMouse @Wildduck @JulianOliver ...seeing this again, i realize it may not have been clear that my response was an attempt at humor. 🤔 @masukomi @ShingoMouse @JulianOliver Don't overthink this haha, it was implied in the mouse toot but we got it. 😁 @JulianOliver    @JulianOliver But I was going to make a suit of armour out of all those old hard drives I have lying around...  @marxjohnson @JulianOliver @samwisefox @catalysteu Can be interesting with those Lithium batteries 🔥  @kirby @smallcircles @marxjohnson @JulianOliver @samwisefox @catalysteu I’ve a cream for that. @BT_Finn @JulianOliver And not particularly effective. the data on the platters would be unaffected (unlike the shattering which happened due to arrow) @fuzzysteve @BT_Finn @JulianOliver @JulianOliver for anyone watching this, you don't need to use destructive methods such as hammers or arrows or drills. You can also overwrite your disks and reuse them 💯 @benjaoming yes I like 'dd if=/dev/urandom of=/path/to/disk bs=10m` or similar, but this had a little pre-click of death anyway. Worked, but was on the way out. @JulianOliver ack! photos are also cool 😎 As individuals, we shouldn't waste time on unreliable drives. But the myth of data security makes companies produce heaps of e-waste. Millions of drives are wasted every year in the name of data security. @kramse @JulianOliver yes, encryption is great and that's the #1. SSD come with firmware-level implementations that overwrite all sectors (also the hidden ones). You will of course have to trust the manufacturer to implement this properly. This is a great resource: https://tinyapps.org/docs/wipe_drives_hdparm.html @benjaoming @JulianOliver But if you have a drawer full of low capacity hard disks you thought you might be able to reuse one day overwriting isn't practical or useful. Have you considered how long it takes to overwrite ten 500GB slow disks? Or whether you can find someone who even wants them? This looks so much more fun than using a power drill. @riskythinking @JulianOliver Step 1) Overwrite I usually put a label on a disk, like "overwritten". Less risky if full-disk encryption was used. Been using tools from StarTech to overwrite multiple disks at once, they have some pretty cool stuff. But yeah, if you have zero intention of reusing a disk, you might as well do some quick irreversible damage to it :+1: @benjaoming @JulianOliver I also doubt you’re securely erasing much of the disk like this. Bend the platters back into shape, and I reckon they’d be mostly readable. You’d (possibly) be surprised the lengths people go to when they really want to recover someone’s data. @ids1024 @likesohushhush @benjaoming Could've dd'd /dev/urandom to it, but after I shot it platter was bent, spindle popped, and the glass substrate poured out as dust. Run and reliable  @benjaoming @JulianOliver Fortunately my city council hires a disk shredder once a year and for a donation to the library I can shred all the disk I want. Working diskless devices go to a re-use charity  @JulianOliver A bit anachronistic. It's a well known fact that layering is the key to defeating arrows, so the ancients actually used hard drives with three platters when being threatened by enemy forces wielding longbows. @JulianOliver I can't tell you how immensely reassuring and impressive that is...hope you can safely retrieve the arrows.    @aral @JulianOliver nah, save the wood. I'm pretty sure they'll self implode in a dramatic fashion on their own. No-one left with the knowledge to keep them from doing it. ;)   @JulianOliver I safely "erased" data from a 3.5" external HDD once. My method? Hammer and Anvil. Being the hammer a 2kg sledgehammer and the anvil a 7cm thick cement block (HDD in between). The cement block broke after the first hit but after few hits more the HDD was safely erased from existence ⚒😏   @JulianOliver nice - and historically accurate. That's how they disabled hard drives in the middle ages, as per the Bayeux Tapestry. @JulianOliver I bet a specialist data recovery organisation could get a decent amount of data off of that even now.  @JulianOliver as the "IT guy" by default, someone did ask me what would be a paranoid way to erase their hard drive. I said jokingly "a sledgehammer and a lake". It was taken seriously. Sorry, lake. @JulianOliver I like to think that Iron Mountain has a group of archers and a range in a basement somewhere where hard drives get skewered. (Loose!!) The result has an artistic quality to it.  @JulianOliver I had a buddy that would take them out and shoot the hell out of them. Lol  @JulianOliver /dev/arrow certainly has a higher penetration than /dev/zero and undoubtedly quicker than /dev/urandom @JulianOliver I've known Americans to use firearms for this, with similar effect. Are your salvaged arrows reusable? @JulianOliver I prefer my method - complete disassembly followed by belt sanding off all the magnetic material. @JulianOliver @JulianOliver by far most sectors likely are still intact. Recovery procedure requires some equipment and is costly, though. @johannes I poured the substrate out as dust, platter bent, spindle popped. Recovery options especially grim.   @JulianOliver Back in the day, my geek friends tested old magnetic drives with 5.56 and 7.62mm at the range. The conclusion was, in a mass-shooter incident, hard drives could make decent improvised bulletproof vests @JulianOliver I only pull 45, but I’m willing to give this a try! Do you recommend carbon shafts, too? And does one need a specific (heavy) grain?  @JulianOliver Data Erasure Method #2: A five-pound hardened steel hammer swung in a 180-degree arc contacting the drive which is placed on a concrete block or steel plate. Wear eye protection. @JulianOliver I think there's a series in this, see what can be hit with an arrow and still retrieve data from it? HDD no, NAS probably not, micro-SD missed, server farm couldn't get through the secure door ...   @JulianOliver I’ve always wanted to do a study on effective data destruction by projectile and caliber. @JulianOliver well, that's a niche business opportunity for any longbowmen, right there! @JulianOliver I hit mine with a lump hammer, and then drive steel nails through them, you know, just in case! @JulianOliver
What happened to magnets and microwaves? Have people really forgotten the classics? @JulianOliver you know, the office space I used to work IT in had a long, awkward hallway to nowhere in the back of the room. It would be the perfect place for an archery range. Not sure why ppl are scared of me since I carry a bow around @JulianOliver apparently what I should say to that is 'nice grouping', and not 'how did the disc not disintegrate?' @JulianOliver i am afraid some (most?) data may be recoverable by advanced techniques.. :/ @jz The glass substrate poured out as dust, tiny shards. Platter bent. Spindle popped. A time machine the only hope! @JulianOliver i think spindle popped and platter bent are not a problem for advanced data recovery (in labs). dont know about substrate... there was a fascinating CCC talk about this years ago. long story short: destroying hard disks is much harder than we thought... this seems like a pretty good job for most adversaries though, and quite fun too <3 @JulianOliver Huh, 50something on 15what? I have no idea, how far and how strong this longbow has to be. Sorry, I do not live in Liberia.
@JulianOliver In before someone posts that's not enough. Remove the precision, areal density will take care of the rest. @JulianOliver reminds me of a story I heard many years ago when I did archery. Some TV company wanted to film an arrow being shot at a camera. The TV crew were all up for it and offered to put up some bulletproof glass to protect the camera. The archer kept saying no and in the end demonstrated what would happen by shooting at the glass when it was propped up against a target. The arrow went clean through the glass. The director quickly dropped the shot. @JulianOliver I hope you at least saved the magnets. I find them incredibly useful around the house. @JulianOliver @hacks4pancakes i always use a Glock for this data erasure. 15 yards is a bit of a reach for accurate pistol fire - doable, but not easy. I’m assuming it’s easier but not vastly so with a bow.  @JulianOliver I applaud everything about this, including your use of a longbow instead of a recurve, and your choice of arrow material. #archery @drmaddkap Tradition is important. Also why bother with high tech things like magnets when sticks, feathers and string will do the job.   @JulianOliver @hacks4pancakes if only this were an actual gov’t approved method of data erasure. (I’m sure it’s effective! But alas I have rules I have to follow for work drives)  @JulianOliver @mattedgar made me smile. Earlier this week I put a pile of old hard disks out in the wet and cold garden in the hope that sorts my data erasure. I prefer your method! @JulianOliver That looks like fun! @JulianOliver i destroy mine with an arc welder... It melts the case, which drips all over the platter while exposing it to the nagnetic field caused by tens of amps of AC flowing through the case. And is lots of fun 🤣  @JulianOliver I like this method just as much as using to sight in my rifle for deer season or frying it with a defibrillator. |
@JulianOliver Where low-tech-fine-art meets high tech, lovely.