OT: Can Reformatting A Hard Drive To ext3 Destroy All the Data On It?

[Rick Stevens]

Sharpe, Sam J wrote:
> 2009/5/29 Jussi Lehtola <jussilehtola at fedoraproject.org>:
>> Quoting "Sharpe, Sam J" <sam.sharpe+lists.redhat at gmail.com>:
>>> 2009/5/29 Alan Cox <alan at lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>:
>>>>> 'shred' is part of coreutils (i.e. installed by default).
>>>>> Doing something like
>>>>>
>>>>> shred /dev/sdX
>>>>>
>>>>> as root will write various bit patterns 25 times over the entire drive
>>>>> (see the man page for more options).
>>>> Whoopeeedoo. Thats still not the correct way to erase a disk.
>>>>
>>>> Use security erase, that is why it is there.
>>> I use a hammer, because it wins over all other solutions on both ease
>>> of use and catharsis.
>> For laptop (1.8" and 2.5") disks, sure. A couple of good bangs and you have
>> yourself a maraca.
>>
>> I haven't so far been able to destroy 3.5" disks with a hammer, as the
>> enclosure is quite durable. A sledgehammer would probably do the trick. Or,
>> you can open up the hard drive and smash the magnetic disks.
> 
> I use some of the undocumented options to /usr/sbin/hammer that are
> relevant to larger disks:
> 
> hammer --unscrewfirst|-u
>        disassemble the drive using a tork wrench first before smashing
> the platters
> hammer --force|-f
>        use more force with the hammer
> 
> NOTE: use of -u and -f together is discouraged unless wearing suitable
> protective equipment.

I generally take the drives out to the desert and use /sbin/detonate.
As Jamie Hyneman once said on "Mythbusters"...

	When in doubt....C4!
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