• moonpiedumplings@programming.dev
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    4 hours ago

    This is not truly foolproof. Data can still be recovered from the spinning metal platter since it can theoretically be removed and put into a recovery device, even in a broken state.

    Im addition to that, hard drives/ssd’s sometimes have small flash memory chips, from which data can sometimes be recovered.

    If you want it to actually be unrecoverable then you have to actually ensure all parts thay store data are truly deleted/wiped, which is more than just the core platter. Or just use encryption and throw away the key, since all data going through the tiny OS on these devices will be encrypted. Or just store them forever in a vault.

    • thermal_shock@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Bud, if you put that platter back together after I snipped it, you deserve every bit of data you get off it, 1000%

      • moonpiedumplings@programming.dev
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        41 minutes ago

        It’s not that hard though. There are companies that offer data recovery as a service. If the value of the data on those drives exceeds the cost of those services then it becomes worth it to fish one of the drives out of the dumpster and take it there.

        • thermal_shock@lemmy.world
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          3 minutes ago

          This is a very specialized job, your avg joe is not going to do it. Also, in the many years I’ve been in IT, I’ve never even seen a video of a platter reconstructed and get data off it.