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Inexpensive Data-Destruction System

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Tags: Hardware, Open Source, Security

Hello all, newer user here with my first post so please bear with me.

So, I work for a small MSP who moonlights as an IT recycler (or maybe the other way around haha) I was brought on as a network installer but with a company as small as ours I ended up wearing many large hats (think Doug Dimmadome) and wound up being a quasi project manager/installer/systems designer/helpdesk operator/literally everything.
Our margins are about as thin as fishing line currently. With that background info I hope that illustrates just how all-over-the-place my position is and how someone with only trial-by-fire training and decent technical skills fell into this position.

Now for the problem, as part of both the MSP and the It recycling we do data destruction (both physical and dban).
Long story short, our current setup for digital destruction just isn’t cutting it. we have multiple dban stations taking up way too much room in our small office. I want to put together a system with HBA’s and SAS backplanes to allow for the drives to be stored in the tower whilst they are being processed (instead of a literal optiplex with the sidepanel gone and SATA cables hanging out the side). I also want to avoid PCIE bottlenecking.

in summation. Does anyone have any inexpensive hardware suggestions, configurations, etc.

thanks in advance for your time

Topic

Just a reminder….

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Please feel free to mention application names but please don’t post internet links as they will be deleted as SPAM.

Reply To: Inexpensive Data-Destruction System

In reply to Just a reminder….

I didn”t post a link

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You are fine, it was a reminder to others who may reply to your inquiry.

Given the rapid decline in HDD prices and more.

In reply to Inexpensive Data-Destruction System

Also the clients I work with all want SSDs have you considered moving to using a hammer on the drive then tossing it into a recycle bin? Aluminum and such is at all time high prices and HDD prices are too low to investments in drive wiping, testing and reselling.

Are HDDs the new buggy whips?

probably should have mentioned

In reply to Given the rapid decline in HDD prices and more.

the data destruction nets us more profit and increases our margin as opposed to physical destruction (our physical destruction is usually me on my farm on a saturday using them for target practice)

also it allows us to increase value of used systems that our techs process and sell (ebay, FB, in store sales) usually if we try to sell them without HDD it nets way less than the same systems with HDD even with the HDD listed as refurbished.

A guess.

In reply to probably should have mentioned

Not in the US?

Country?

In reply to A guess.

We are located in Ohio

Looking over at the tech bench today.

In reply to Country?

20+ HDDs in the spare parts corner left behind after SSD upgrades. We won’t/can’t sell them because folk want warranties. So they are used for testing and pro bono repairs (students, elderly, you know the rest.)

k

In reply to Looking over at the tech bench today.

look i aint arguing with you. we sell a crap ton of these. if you want to heckle someone go somewhere else

Did you try this OLD SCHOOL WIPER?

In reply to k

See https://www.amazon.com/Degausser-Electricity-Required-Maintenance-Powerful/dp/B011DYA628

It claims to wipe HDDs. It doesn’t require a computer or electricity.

Just the obvious thing here

In reply to Inexpensive Data-Destruction System

ON Track Data Recovery managed to recover data off a drive on the Shuttle Colombia which broke up on reentry and this particular drive flew through the atmosphere for at least a few hundred meters high crashed into a swamp and sat there for a month or two before being discovered .

They got 3 drives from that wreck and managed to recover the data on one of them which was heat damaged crash impacted and filled with swamp water which I believe was amazing so short of destroying the coating on the platters which is what happened to the other 2 drives that they could not recover any data from it is possible to recover data even with a wiping utility like DBan’s Boot & Nuke which is by no means fast.

Not sure how much it cost to recover that data but I’m sure it was cheaper than to repeat the experiment it was monitoring.

So in short I’m not really sure it is possible to destroy data on any HDD unless you destroy the coating on the platters so depending on what is on the discs it may be possible to recover what was on them even with D Ban’s Utility which is a very good bit of kit which I would recommend to anyone but not for Total Data Destruction. I paid On track about 30k to recover data off a drive that had been dropped 5 stories down the stair well of a car park accidently after the guy’s NB had been stolen and he had forgotten the backup drive in his coat pocket which proved to him it could not fly but as they where undergoing a Tax Ordit and the only copy of their Tax Records where on that drive wasn’t much of a choice I even managed to get it to the Tax Office only 45 minutes late and it saved them considerably more than the cost of the recovery which I did not think was going to be possible. Sort of like walking into the Tax Office and say8ing the Goat Ate my Book Keeping so we have nothing a tall.

Took a bit to find as they used it in advertising way back then but here is their account of it.

https://www.ontrack.com/en-us/blog/kroll-ontrack-space-shuttle-columbia#:~:text=The%20Aftermath%20of%20Space%20Shuttle%20Columbia&text=These%20were%20likely%20to%20damage,present%20on%20the%20hard%20drive.

Here for noncritical drives we just have one system with about 40 USB Drive Sockets and mass wipe with Boot & Nuke. I can’t remember how I setup that now as it was ages ago but it treats every drive that is plugged in at the same time though I seem to remember that they all had to be the same capacity but that may not be corr

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In reply to Inexpensive Data-Destruction System

Perhaps of the most financially savvy datum obliteration frameworks is the utilization of a degausser. A degausser is a gadget that transmits a strong electromagnetic field that eradicates all information put away on a hard drive or attractive media. It is a speedy and simple strategy for obliterating information and is considerably more practical than additional tedious techniques like boring an opening through the drive or destroying it. A degausser can likewise be utilized to delete information using a credit card/check cards, tapes, and other attractive media.

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