Evan Rachel Wood: How to keep others from reading your old hard drives

Sunday, June 1, 2008

How to keep others from reading your old hard drives

These days identity theft is big business. There are a multitude of ways that a bad guy can get your personal data for his gain. Among these methods is your old computer hardware. Particularly the hard drive in your old computer. Most people would say that wiping the HDD will be enough. Programs like Darik's Boot and Nuke are incredibly good at removing all the data on your old drives. But if you aren't careful, you can erase data on a different drive that you wanted to keep. Not that I've done that! Ok. Maybe once... Anyway, I thought I would offer up my way of dealing with this problem.

Step One:

Remove the old drive from the computer. You might want to make sure that you are removing a drive that you want to keep. There is no Undo option here. This are a couple of old hard drives that I had laying around the house. This method will work on any size hard disk. It makes no difference. (Click on image for larger version)

Step Two:

Select your tools. In this particular situation. I have chosen a Taurus model PT24/7 Pro in .40 S&W. The particular ammunition was Blazer Brass 180 grain Full Metal Jacket. Your tools may be different from mine, but I think you can see where this is going. ;)

Step Three:

Find a safe place to work. It must be well ventilated. Plenty of light. Most of all, BE SAFE! Do NOT handle a firearm of any type unless you know what you are doing.

Step Four:

Proceed with your work. I recommend repeated applications. As many as you like. I only stopped after a few hits because I could no longer get the HDD's to stay in one place long enough for me to get a shot off. WARNING! This may result in uncontrollable grinning and/or giggling.