Hard drive platters

**ScappyJoe** · 05-11-2015, 04:35 PM

Does drilling holes in platters keep data safe?

Thanks

**Mmarro89** · 05-11-2015, 04:50 PM

It will render a drive inoperable but really sophisticated labs could in theory recover data. Its better to think of Data Destruction in terms of risk vs. intensity of data destruction procedures.

Warping the platters, shredding them so the area of the pieces is smaller than a single block of data or degaussing will eliminate the possibility of recovering data however it will no longer be usable. Wiping a drive with a program called Secure Erase or similar techniques plus a verification step where you confirm there is no original data is just as effective but leaves the drive operable. Most low security hard drives, i.e. the general public, would need only a few drills holes as one would only employ sophisticated and very expensive recovery techniques on drilled platters if they were certain there was data worth stealing on there. PM if you have anymore Data Destruction questions, hope this helps.

**ScappyJoe** · 05-11-2015, 04:58 PM

Thanks so much that was a big help!

**harsas** · 05-11-2015, 10:33 PM

What about running a powerful magnet over the platter surface? I was told many years ago that this was fatal for a drive but have never actually tried it. Still, I have always been curious...

**Mmarro89** · 05-12-2015, 08:11 AM

Originally Posted by harsas

What about running a powerful magnet over the platter surface? I was told many years ago that this was fatal for a drive but have never actually tried it. Still, I have always been curious...

You would need a degausser with a high enough oersteds (Oe) rating in relation to the drive you are trying to degauss. The higher the capacity the drive and the newer it is, the higher the rating would be needed. Degaussing is completely ineffective against solid state drives however as they are not magnetically storing data.