How People Destroy Evidence on a hard drive(Pictorial)

[SBTlauien]

This short explanation will tell you the best way, and usually only way, that people permanently destroy the data that is on a hard drive.

A lot of idiots will tell you that you can destroy data that's on your hard drive by using certain programs.  I wouldn't bother with the hassle when hard drives are so inexpensive these days.  With this method, a person would need to buy a new hard drive.

First they need to take their hard drive out of their PC or laptop.  I'll be using the hard drive that was in my laptop for this explanation.

When they pull it out, it has some mounts on it, like the ones in this picture.  They are those metal things that run down the side of the hard drive and have little blue plastic ends.



After taking those off, they need a star key to remove the outer-back case.  After taking off all of the screws, they simply pry up on the case.  I used a flat head screw driver for this one.



At this point, the disks can be seen.  They are very reflective and hold the evidence that so many detectives and federal agents just love to seize during a search warrant.  They look like this...



They simply place the whole hard drive into their sink, and place a paper towel over the disks(these will shatter).  Then they use the flat head screw driver to apply pressure to the disks until they shatter.  They would keep moving the screw driver around until it's just a nice glass mess.  Like this....



Then they would pour these glass remains into a paper bag and toss it discretely into a trash somewhere.

[Rook]

 Actually, if you want to do it.. a slightly easier way..

1. If you dont want to destroy the drive all together, delete everything you want gone, and then proceed to fill up every last bit of space on your drive with random data.. a good example is a single folder filled with "X' amount of the same image till your drive is full. When you delete data off your drive, your not really deleting it, just communicating to your computer that it is okay for this information to be overwritten.. You can easily back up this information with a variety of programs, including some free ones.

 What I would do if I was worried about such a situation? Keep your suspect data in one place and encrypted.. have a spare external hardrive on hand pre-loaded with a data mass equal to or slightly greater than your computers internal hardrive. Worse comes to worse, delete your suspect data and quickly fill your computer with the preloaded crap.. it should effectively overwrite what you were hiding.

2. Just incase that isnt your speed, having access to (2) strong computer magnets should do the trick.. one on each side of the drive, or rubbing them in an alternating fashion simultaneously on each side of the drive should effectively clear and corrupt all data.. and.. the drive may even still be salvagable to be overwritten and reused.. maybe not all cases but..

 With the OP method your leaving behind physical evidence of your intent to hide something.. it'd probably be easier to explain my first method.. get creative.. and the second one, well its not hard to believe that your computer/hard drive is just fucked up.. shit does happen.

[SBTlauien]

I have read that replacing all of the space on the hard drive isn't 100% guaranteed and that forensic detectives can still pull the data off of it.  This thread is pertaining to forensic detectives as in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, not some kid with recovery hardware/software.

With the OP method your leaving behind physical evidence of your intent to hide something.

Not if you dump it all.  Then you've simply destroyed the evidence completely.  $50 for a new hard drive is so cheap, I'd rather just replace it than take the chance.

[Rook]

I mean yea, I understand.. But isn't "breaking it into a million pieces" more/less common sense if it were something like being pursued by the FBI? How would it fair in court if they already had credible info on you by somehow managing to track you online, and then they find evidence of a newly installed hard drive? When has lack of physical evidence been a problem before? Unless you have some serious buck to ante up a good lawyer.. Trial by your peers would screw you. However, if there was a means of effectively masking and replacing all old data beyond recovery, it would look more in your favor.. And yes, my methods weren't for the criminal mastermind.. More so for protecting yourself from smart nosy friends or low level script kiddies who manage to get a Trojan on your machine and strive to get your sex tapes.. That sorta thing lol

[Spuff]

This is a reliable method for destroying a drive for sure. If you want to keep your drive physically intact and use software to zero your drive instead, Dariks Boot And Nuke (DBAN) is a great alternative.

[SBTlauien]

How would it fair in court if they already had credible info on you by somehow managing to track you online, and then they find evidence of a newly installed hard drive? When has lack of physical evidence been a problem before?

Even in that scenario, I think it would still be better to simply have a newly installed hard drive, if you're guilty of the crime.  It would leave concrete evidence out of the courtroom, rather than being caught red handed.

[splooge gook]

expected this thread to be you smashing your HD with a hammer

[Infinityshock]

if the hard drive platters are intact....as in if software was used to supposedly delete info...the potential exists for info to be retrieved.

Another method that doesnt involve hammers is using a propane hand torch to melt the platters, which is more effective.

[Spuff]

if the hard drive platters are intact....as in if software was used to supposedly delete info...the potential exists for info to be retrieved.

Another method that doesnt involve hammers is using a propane hand torch to melt the platters, which is more effective.

I don't know about more effective, both methods involve fucking up the platters in some way. I think I'd rather smash it up, then at least you can scatter the pieces all over the place.

[Rook]

Just curious, and you all may know this... Say a person keeps their sensitive or secret information on a portable HD, and access it via a desk/laptop.. And a situation occurs where you need to discard such information.. If you only used the desk/laptop to open/read the information.. is it necessary try and obliterate its hard drive, even though the sensitive data was never actually stored on it? Similar to trying to access something from your recent places folder that was originally opened through another source (usb or external hd), and the information cannot be found... could there really be something there, or is it relatively safe? I'm thinking yes, but eh.. I dont claim to be the most savvy on the subject.

[starvingniglet]

could there really be something there, or is it relatively safe? I'm thinking yes

you're thinking 'yes' to which one?

[Nasheeds and Lesbians]

I destroy the evidence on my hard drive by forgetting what I just typed 3.5 seconds after I post it

[Spuff]

Just curious, and you all may know this... Say a person keeps their sensitive or secret information on a portable HD, and access it via a desk/laptop.. And a situation occurs where you need to discard such information.. If you only used the desk/laptop to open/read the information.. is it necessary try and obliterate its hard drive, even though the sensitive data was never actually stored on it? Similar to trying to access something from your recent places folder that was originally opened through another source (usb or external hd), and the information cannot be found... could there really be something there, or is it relatively safe? I'm thinking yes, but eh.. I dont claim to be the most savvy on the subject.

I wish I knew the answer. If for some reason, the information is moved into a temporary directory on your computer then it'll be recoverable. If it's just cached in memory then it won't be. But I don't know enough about it to give you a better answer

[Infinityshock]

if the hard drive platters are intact....as in if software was used to supposedly delete info...the potential exists for info to be retrieved.

Another method that doesnt involve hammers is using a propane hand torch to melt the platters, which is more effective.

I don't know about more effective, both methods involve fucking up the platters in some way. I think I'd rather smash it up, then at least you can scatter the pieces all over the place.

The problem with that is it still leaves evidence and the potential for collection of data. I know of a case where someone cut up a floppy disk in an attempt to hide evidence but someone managed to get a piece of it, attach it to another floppy disk in a way that would allow it to be read, and collected all the evidence necessary to complete a prosecution

With todays more advanced forensics along with the higher storage density of a hard drive, there has to be a way of extracting data from platter fragments

[ngalo1983]

Pour gasoline on hard drive and light it on fire. Problem solved. No more evidence.