BBC programme re: re-cyclling computers

It was on BBC1 tonight it was very interesting showing how hardrives are
being sent out abroad and how the information from them is being used

Rabbit...

But we'd all know to wipe our hard drives as best we could wouldn't we ? :-)

it certainly makes you think.

pmj...

It *is* actually fairly easy (though it can take a fair while,
(up to several Hours) depending on how big the Hard Drive is)...

pmj...

Yep - But you can get them for Free - there's no need to pay loads
of money, which *some* firms are charging for those sort of Utilities.

pmj...

I would certainly *hope* so - but I suspect (in fact I *know*)
that not many people *do* actually know how to effectively Wipe
Data & Information from a Hard Drive.

Apparently, the people on that TV Programme (who had chucked their
PC away *without* making sure to have *first* Wiped the Data off
the Hard Drive) seemed to think that the Council Tip/Recycling Unit,
where they chucked away their PC, would take responsibility for Wiping
the Data, which seems silly to me - do they really think that someone
is going to Plug the PC in (or remove the Hard Drive from it & then
Plug it in to a working System), just so as to Wipe it?

Nope.

I don't think they even thought about it - once they'd chucked their
PC away, it was "out of sight, out of mind", as far as they were
concerned.

How would *you* actually wipe your Hard Drive then?

Jeff Gaines...

A 10lb lump hammer is quite effective :-)

Or take it to bits to see how it works and physically destroy the platters
- mind the magnets though, strong enough to give you a nasty nip or take a
lump out of a child's finger.

Aries...

I didn't. But I removed the hard drive because I could not fire up the pc
to actually wipe it. So I still have it here to use as an extra drive
should I ever need it LOL