If you've already got the
optical media wiper you need to rest easy, you'll probably be able to escape insomnia altogether after picking up WiebeTech's Drive eRazer. Granted, we've seen more
elaborate solutions to this problem before, but this little bugger is compact enough to lug around and enables users to erase sensitive data from 2.5- / 3.5-inch IDE, PATA and SATA drives without requiring any PC intervention. The company claims that it can write data at a "sustained rate of more than 35MB/s," which means that your 250GB HDD would be clean as a whistle in under two hours. Best of all, the Standard flavor checks in at just $99.95, and if you're still nervous about someone finding something in nothing, a Pro model -- which is "capable of more than one pass with random characters" -- is available for $50 more.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rob @ Nov 13th 2007 7:52AM
I have a method that works 100% of the times, and costs me nothing. It's called "A hammer and nail." I never give away my hdd, because there's always a way to retrieve that info. But, if I have to get rid of it, I just use the hammer and nail method mentioned.
Doesn't OS-X already offers the option to add x and o to any hdd, therefore erasing all of its content? Does it work well?
Joe @ Nov 13th 2007 8:11AM
A nail will only ruin the data that it touches... only the data the was where the hole now is.
The Feds (or anyone with enough $) can still get the rest of the data. 7-passes of 00000000 then incinerate please.
Sander de Regt @ Nov 13th 2007 8:40AM
"Doesn't OS-X already offers the option to add x and o to any hdd, therefore erasing all of its content? Does it work well?"
Yes it does. It's called time machine :-)
Rob @ Nov 13th 2007 9:22AM
No, there's a function in the Disc Utility that allows you to put blank data in the places where you had your original files. I'm wondering if it does work. I've never used it, nor have the ability to figure out if it really works, beyond the gui.
Regarding the comment in regards to my "nail and hammer", I'd agree that the most damage will be around where the nail went through. However, wouldn't all that debris damage the rest of the disc as the platters start to spin? I'm asking. I'm not a forensic tech. But, curious as to what would do it.
Andrew @ Nov 13th 2007 12:26PM
Debris will indeed cause a lot of extra damage. That's why forensics/data recoverers will NOT spin the drive damaged like that. They would take it out, clean it and put it in another mechanism - according to articles I've read. They can probably program the head to not move in the area where the hole is, and that would still recover a lot of data.
Even just using random numbers or zeroes to write to the drive won't make the data unrecoverable because each write leaves a trace - the magnetic material has a bit of a memory. It takes many writes for the old traces to be lost and not all data values are equally resistant to writes. There's a paper from some professor that investigates the magnetic properties of the drive and comes up with the method that will "for sure" make the old data unrecoverable. It involves a special pattern of numbers to be written, probably to take care of traces of all possible values as they leave different magnetic fingerprint. I believe it's called Guttman and it's a 35-pass method.
Wwhat @ Nov 13th 2007 3:48PM
As far as I know most platters are made from glass, so hopefully the nail would shatter it.
BigBloke @ Nov 13th 2007 7:58AM
...yeah, that or incineration
Craig @ Nov 13th 2007 8:02AM
The truly paranoid will find no use for this device, because using it requires trust that WiebeTech has programmed it to write truly random data, and not just some really long pseudo-random string of which they retain a copy that they could then sell to various data-seeking agencies. You'd also have to trust that the distributor (assuming it's a separate entity) hasn't tampered with it.
The really, truly, insanely paranoid wouldn't even dare to make this post on Engadget, for fear that revealing such paranoid thoughts might make one a target of the authorities. See how hard paranoia can be?
Ralph @ Nov 13th 2007 10:14AM
The truly paranoid aren't even here, because they all know that when you're on the internets the government is reading everything on your hard drive.
mark hoekstra @ Nov 13th 2007 8:15AM
The truly paranoid already store everything encrypted on their drives. So after a drive fails or whatever, there's no need to do stuff like this... ;-)
yacoub @ Nov 13th 2007 8:16AM
One pass?? Come on, there are software programs that will write multiple passes up to and including DOD spec drive wiping. They write as fast as the HD and the bus it's on can write.
Bah.
mattydread @ Nov 13th 2007 9:17AM
I was about to type the same thing. One pass is a joke, and I hear you are supposed to do atleast 8 passes if you want to do it right.
Ferggo @ Nov 13th 2007 12:43PM
RTFA, They sell a 'multiple-pass' version for an extra $50.
Chris Talbot @ Nov 13th 2007 8:17AM
Does anyone else not feel more than a little nervous that anyone can now wipe disks - wander around with this remove a disk and wipe it and then sit back to watch the fun unfold:P
RED ENGINEER @ Nov 13th 2007 8:38AM
SPY'S SAPPIN MAH HARD DRIVE
Tim Brown @ Nov 13th 2007 8:42AM
Use one of those magnets that you use to clean fish tanks. they are powerful enough to rip the particles from the platter. That, and injecting hydrochloric acid into the air hole does a pretty good job of it. Any one else got a fun way of getting rid of data?
Wwhat @ Nov 13th 2007 3:52PM
HAHA, such rot about magnets, that is cute if you are 8yo and watching McGyver, but come on.
Tim Brown @ Nov 14th 2007 4:55AM
I suggest you read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive and then come back to me with a sarky remark about magnets not being able to erase a hard drive as this is the method used to store the data in the first place. Better still take one and run it over your hard drive, if you are so confident.
WiebeTech @ Nov 13th 2007 9:19AM
Hi Engadgeters,
I want to point out the "DoD spec" has actually changed as of July 28, 2007. Due to this, there's quite a lot of old and invalid information on the internet.
Sure, plenty of software works fine, but there's a social inability to use them - and a great deal of the problem comes from resellers, who need a faster hardware solution, so they'll take the time to protect user data.
We've written an entire paper on this subject - http://www.wiebetech.com/whitepapers/Hard_Drive_Disposal_Security.php
In the paper are common myths about erasure, and a study where we detail what we could rescue off of drives purchased on eBay (including someone's tax returns).
paul34 @ Nov 13th 2007 9:44AM
Hmm, is it a coincidence the manufacturer of this product posted in this thread?
WiebeTech @ Nov 13th 2007 11:15AM
Paul34 - not really. It's easy to tell where traffic is coming from, and we're alrady pretty big fans of Engadget :). (And we discuss the gutmann research, too).
HineyWipe @ Nov 13th 2007 10:20AM
Not to be a plug for Wiebetech but their products are top notch. When most other external drive providers had bridge board problems (cough LaCie), Wiebetech's Desktop Tough Tech series has been bullet proof for me and my mac clients. Plus their combo docks allow me to pull out laptop drives and dis-infect them without booting the user's system, and recover files (you'd be surprised how easy it is to recover PC files using a Mac and USB).
But as far as removing data, if the drive is over 3 years old, and has sensitive data, I disassemble it, remove the platters, and destroy them with force (hydraulic, thermal and/or mechanical means). There is no surface remaining to recover, read, extract data from.
paul34 @ Nov 13th 2007 9:43AM
I use a program called "Eraser," which is free.
Unfortunately, I think that using the Guttman method, wiping a drive would take quite a while.
Dave @ Nov 13th 2007 9:54AM
Disc security for the really paranoid - No problem, use a 9 disc RAID 5 array, then each disc only contains a single bit of each byte so it is impossible to retrieve the data without access to at least 7 of the discs.
Also a 9 x15,000rpm SCSI array is so fast it’ll make your new SATA discs look like 3.5” floppies. – Rather expensive though!
Billy @ Nov 13th 2007 9:58AM
I would have found this fairly handy a few weeks back when I had to completely erase about 4 hard drives, including one notebook drive. I understand that people think this is dumb when you can do it for free in software, but it is a pain in the ass to power down the computer and swap drives in and out for each one you want to erase.
However, I do agree with the general sentiment that this is too expensive, especially since the entry model only does one pass. I would probably pay $99 for a model that did multi pass and also worked with 3.5 and 2.5 drives. However, you have to spend $199 to get that, and that's just way too much.
Arlton Lowry @ Nov 13th 2007 10:03AM
Didn't you guys learn about this from Tekzilla?
I'm sure Patrick Norton is pleased at you guys passing his information off as yours.
Wolfticket @ Nov 13th 2007 10:21AM
Seems handy, and I'm guessing this doesn't destroy the drive, unlike some of the more extreme methods mentioned above.
However, the standard model does sound awfully like a crippled version of the pro model. It's slightly worrying that it is meant to be secure'er'.
This is obviously a pretty niche product and not really comparable to a free software solutions for home users, however for people refurbishing computers on a pretty regular basis it could find it useful.
Bombaclaat @ Nov 13th 2007 11:06AM
boring.
Christian Martin @ Nov 13th 2007 11:49AM
Would you be more entertained if it was titled "Apple releases iWipe, gives free blow jobs?"
Bombaclaat @ Nov 13th 2007 10:01PM
why does evething have to be connected to apple or microsoft? I was bored.
tekdroid @ Nov 13th 2007 1:43PM
http://dban.sourceforge.net/ is the popular freebie. I'd rather do this than spend 50 bucks on a hardware 'pro' version, the savings of which can go to a new drive...
bcollinstex @ Nov 13th 2007 2:15PM
Good ole boot and nuke.
Anyway, a 3 pass wipe will prevent just about every recovery processes, except very expensive data recovery techniques that the DOD and a few others use. But, most people aren't spies, so why worry.
Just do a 3 pass wipe and sell the hard drive if you want.
Rick @ Nov 13th 2007 2:26PM
I thought it would be thinner, sharper.
Zorque @ Nov 13th 2007 2:50PM
Aren't IDE and PATA the same thing?
John Cavanagh @ Nov 13th 2007 4:24PM
Yeah, one pass really isn't enough to stop any form of recovery. Hell, there is free software on the web to do just that. And yes, if the DOD comes for your drive this thing is a complete waste. Currently it is my understanding that the DOD has methods of recovering data over-written by 9 or more passes.