speeding up hard drive wipe

[J. Paul Bissonnette]

On Sun, 27 Sep 2020 15:07:39 +0100
Chris Luck <chrisluck.bvhg at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 26/09/2020 20:45, Ralf Mardorf via ubuntu-users wrote:
> > On Sat, 26 Sep 2020 15:07:01 -0400, Ken D'Ambrosio wrote:  
> >> Citation, please.  
> > 
> > There might be no proof, but it's reasonable and not just another 
> > idiotic conspiracy theory.
> > 
> > Users unlikely need to worry about this:
> > 
> > "A technique called  Magnetic  Force  Microscopy  (MFM)  allows
> > any moderately  funded  opponent  to  recover  the last two or
> > three layers of data written to disk"  
> <snip>
> 
>      15-odd years ago I was pulling out a hard drive from an old pc
> just to study it's innards and extract any re-usable parts more than
> for any security issue.  I unscrewed the covers, disregarding the
> "Fate worse than death" stickers, to find multi-layered discs which
> were very easy to pull from the spindle with a small pair of
> long-nosed pliers applied at the rim.
>      I was intrigued by the very light weight of the discs and how
> easily they could be folded in two, then four and - with a bit of
> help from heavier electricians pliers - eight.  "Get data off that!"
> - I muttered as I threw them in the bin.

The drives that I have scraped had multi layer discs made from hard
shiny metal. When you tapped them they made a very pleasant sound, so I
drilled a hole through the outside edge of each and made wind chimes. 
I guess you could say now my data is blowing in the wind
> 
> The interesting extra was a ferociously powerful magnet assembly (mind
> your fingers).

save those magnets, I use them in the workshop to hang tools
> 
> I suspect that any practical recovery technique requires an intact
> functional drive or at least a disc assembly that could be transferred
> to a functional drive.
>