<m.roth at ...> writes: > > > m.roth at ... wrote: > > > > [...] > > > >> Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that > >> you could disassemble the disks and use thermite. > > > > Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case. > > > I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me, > about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some > data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point. > > mark "and make nice flames and melting metal" > Over the years I've ended up with a pile of old hard drives. Some are unreliable; some won't even spin up and some are just REALLY old (e.g., 100s of MB size). I also inherited a couple of rifles (M-1 Garand and M-1 Carbine). I'm thinking write /dev/urandom to ones that will spin but then take the whole lot out in the country for some target practice. It may be possible to scape a little data off of what's left after the drive gets hit with a round from the Garand but I doubt if anyone will want to go to the trouble. It could also be fun. Cheers, Dave