Re: [Hampshire] Hard disk destruction

On Thursday 08 January 2009 09:17:09 Tony Whitmore wrote:
Now, whilst I can see that putting a hard disk that has come
> straight from a computer on ebay, or one that has been trivially formatted
> or had files "erased" is probably a risk, is it really worth getting people
> to attack their hard drives with hammers?

I'd say it depends what they're planning on doing with it. I saw a story (also
I think on the BBC) where they went to Lagos, Nigeria and bought some second
hand computers, and were able to recover personal information about a guy in
London and his family. When they went and asked him about it, he'd just thrown
his computer away. I'd certainly rather suggest to non-techies that they get
happy with a sledge hammer than trying to explain to them what a secure wiping
algorithm is and why I recommend they use it, only to be ignored. (Unless, as
you say, it's going on eBay).

Cheers
Mark