secure erase drive errors

[jd1008]

On 06/23/2015 11:46 PM, Tim wrote:
> jd1008:
>>> I will be resorting to a powerfull de-gausser :)
> Joe Zeff:
>> Depending on your tastes, using it for target practice will do the job.
> What about, hard drives roasting on an open fire?  (Yes, I did sing it
> in my head to /that/ song.)
>
> A strong degausser is a bit of an esoteric thing, and I don't think I'd
> trust my CRT degaussing wand to be strong enough.  I've pulled drives
> apart before, but that's a lot effort (tiny odd screws, sometimes
> seriously jammed into place), then bent the disc platters to buggery.
>
> While seriously annoying and time-consuming to do, it was also quite
> satisfying to mangle the bugger to death.
>
I was told that dismantling it surgically is both entertaining and 
educating :)

I have never dismantled one before  !

The degausser I am talking about sucks 20 amps at 110V AC.
So, it is a very powerful magnet!
I am not sure if the micro-electronic elements would survive it though.
Failing that, I will try to 'entertain' and 'educate' myself by surgically
dismantling the beast. In fact I would also like to give the ROMs to a
friend (HW and FW engineer) who has equipment to read the ROMs,
and disassemble the contents. The kaspersky revelation that the HD
roms contain malware was a very interesting article.