Comments on: How-to: Thermite hard drive destruction

By: TheShadow

TheShadow — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:14:39 +0000

SAFETY NOTE TO ABOVE: wear adequate eye and respiratory protection on the angle grinder method. The coating is poisonous if inhaled.

By: TheShadow

TheShadow — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 21:12:10 +0000

As an IT technician, I have to agree on the forensics aspect. This would securely wipe the drive permanently.

I would point out that the weakness of the software method is that it takes time. I’ve erased a lot of hard drives and it takes anywhere from 20min-2 hours to securely wipe the drive. If at some point a paranoid crackdown does occur, you are simply not going to have that kind of time. If you think your wiping software will do the job, try wiping a drive then using over the counter forensics software to access the data. Unless the drive is overwritten several times the data can still be retrieved. Overwriting an entire drive takes time. Time you may not have.

An alternative method, if you’re just getting rid of an old drive is to remove the platters and take an angle grinder to them. All the data is stored on the magnetic coating on the disk. Remove the surface and, and there is no realistic means of retrieving the data that I am aware of. The platters themselves are made of aluminum and wouldn’t retain much, if any data from magnetism. (being non-ferrous)

Further, thermite is not explosive.

It is also totally legal. There are even some folks trying to use it as an alternative energy source. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxCXFOjKTWY It is fairly low in pollution values, especially in a controlled burn environment.

By: john c

john c — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:56:25 +0000

A powerful heating element incorporated into the drive, or an induction heating coil would heat the platters enough to destroy the magnetic domains within the platters,job done, no destruction of the rest of the room, no outward signs that anything is amiss while the men in suits are invading the room, no chance of being charged with arson or assault with an explosive device, just quiet privacy.Could be worked of a decent lead acid battery within the case rigged to a tilt switch so if the computer is moved or stolen, data is gone.Ram does not hod residual data, without a strobe refresh the data is gone.

By: MrBishop

MrBishop — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:11:24 +0000

Yeah im doing this, I am also going to build a enclosure that prevents anything from getting out once it “self destructs”; I am thinking clay+concrete (probably 2-3 layers of clay panels/tiles with concrete or something else heat resistant holding it together). oh and shred, yeah I have the same tool, its great to do a 35 pass system when you have a week to spare, but these kinds of setups are for 10<15 second guarantee's. now if you don't mind I have to go find my lead lined hat with two layers of tin. (one on the out, one in the in.) ;-)

By: shred

shred — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:55:51 +0000

i have this GNU tool called shred.

shred -itterations=20 –zero /dev/sda

By: mofo

mofo — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:56:35 +0000

apparently you can melt playdough into thermite in the right quantities and make a mouldable thermite block which can be stuck anywhere. like to see someone try it.

By: Pennie Platter

Pennie Platter — Tue, 18 May 2010 21:40:21 +0000

Yeah learn something everyday.

By: anon

anon — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:28:32 +0000

That computer tower looks like WTC7 on 9/11.

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Ossetra Kaviar bestellen — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:13:18 +0000

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By: PiNG

PiNG — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:24:40 +0000

@Aaron
Your right…this was done on the broken years ago. Only they used a laptop.
http://revision3.com/thebroken/ep3

By: ak77

ak77 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:30:29 +0000

According to the examples above: Flowerpot (mostly) pwns Thermite. Although I did see a couple of cracked examples, the leakage is generally through the hole in the bottom.

Perhaps put HDD in a long planter pot (like a window box), to contain the reaction?

By: Dan Fruzzetti

Dan Fruzzetti — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:17:29 +0000

@threepointone dude whoah hold on… you mix a huge block of ice with a sealed fire box or whatever and you get a massive bomb complete with shrapnel.

By: mastermac

mastermac — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:21:35 +0000

excellent experiment. several points in response to comments:

1. aluminum and aluminum oxide are toxic to humans. don’t breathe it. don’t eat it. that said, using thermite to destroy an HD presents less toxic materials into the environment than the process of making the PC and chassis to begin with, so get a grip, get a life, and don’t buy any more computers if you’re so worried about it.

2. thermite itself is not considered an explosive although it will sputter molten metal in a semi-explosive manner. however, thermite in combination with sulphur, copper and/or magnesium can be used as an explosive. further, the explosive bolts NASA uses for decoupling rocket stages are thermite. further, thermate is explosive, and nano-thermate is highly explosive.

3. the military and intel dispose of HDs in two ways: strong magnetic fields (strong enough to actually warp the platters) and incinerators. acid might be used too, idk.

4. of course it was an inside job, see “The Ghost in the Machines: Evidence of Foreknowledge in the WTC Hard Drive Recoveries” http://journalof911studies.com/volume/2008/GhostWTC.pdf

By: owlland

owlland — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:35:59 +0000

i am not sure how well this would work but why not have a container of Acid above HDs . break container when needed to destroy HD. ?????

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:13:41 +0000

Some of you people are fucking stupid.

The rest of you, I admire your intelligence and cunning originality.