Re: Degausser recommendations

[Ken Connelly <Ken.Connelly () UNI EDU>]

Chris Edwards wrote:
> On Thu, 3 May 2007, Ben Woelk wrote:
>
> | One of the drivers for purchasing a degausser is to be able to remove
> | information from damaged hard drives before disposing of them or returning
> | them to the computer vendor when erasure is not an option.
>
> Yep - the concern is for a failed disk, where we can't erase it using
> regular computer-based erasing software.  If the disk is returned to
> vendor, they may fix it and thus have access to our data, and/or give it
> to another customer.
>
> Sort of related, does anyone know the effects of degaussing a working HD ?
> Let's assume the data is indeed destroyed.  Is the drive then fine to
> re-use, perhaps after a reformat?  Or, is it rendered unusable or
> unreliable by the degaussing ?  If so then there would seem little benefit
> in degaussing then returning to vendor, as such drive would be useless to
> the vendor.  You might as well keep it (and take the cost hit).
>
> Chris
>
> --
> Chris Edwards, Glasgow University Computing Service
Nuking a drive with a high-powered degausser may render the drive
unusable, but I don't see how that is your problem.

--
- Ken
=================================================================
Ken Connelly             Associate Director, Security and Systems
ITS Network Services                  University of Northern Iowa
email: Ken.Connelly () uni edu   p: (319) 273-5850 f: (319) 273-7373