Destroy Old Hard Drives with a Drill?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...If you want to destroy a drive without working too hard, walk down to the nearest railroad and put it on the track when you hear a train coming... or maybe not - Homeland Security might shoot you nowadays.

Definitely not! It's illegal to trespass on the right of way of a critical utility (i.e. the railroad). While probably remote, it's possible an HDD on the tracks could cause a derailment. A bunch of kids caused a passenger train derailment in 1999 by putting a brick on a railroad track; a brick is more likely to just crush or shatter when hit by a steel wheel so imagine what could happen if it struck something harder to crush, like an HDD? Needless to say, the Government (not to mention a railroad) would frown on doing anything that could even remotely possibly cause a derailment.

[AndyMH]

Several of these on a leaf rake finds nails, lost screws, nuts, etc.

Give the state of our garden that is a REALLY good idea

[GS3]

In Linux, you can wipe them with Bleachbit

Thanks for the tip! I installed it with Synaptic and will be using it from now on.

[all41]

Several of these on a leaf rake finds nails, lost screws, nuts, etc.

Give the state of our garden that is a REALLY good idea

These are probably the stongest magnets available to the average person. Be Careful--they can pinch
and otherwise cause injury.

I stick a half dozen or so to the underside of a leaf broom and drag it over the area.
And it works very well. It will also attract lots of rusty old stuff and debris you would not otherwise consider
to be ferrous.
The magnets can be removed and walaa--a normal leaf rake

[DAMIEN1307]

In Linux, you can wipe them with Bleachbit

Thanks for the tip! I installed it with Synaptic and will be using it from now on.

NEVER use bleachbit...Its an operating system wrecking ball......DAMIEN

GS3...After the amount of your years here in the forums, I thought you knew better than this !

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... s.html#ID4

[all41]

operating system wrecking ball

dead horse, I hear an echo that is
only true in misguided or uninformed use.
That said--I prefer pjotr methods mentioned here.
Bleachbit is good as a scanning tool to propose files for
deletion--but in the end game I choose to delete them manually.

[old_noob]

...If you want to destroy a drive without working too hard, walk down to the nearest railroad and put it on the track when you hear a train coming... or maybe not - Homeland Security might shoot you nowadays.

Definitely not! It's illegal to trespass on the right of way of a critical utility (i.e. the railroad). While probably remote, it's possible an HDD on the tracks could cause a derailment. A bunch of kids caused a passenger train derailment in 1999 by putting a brick on a railroad track; a brick is more likely to just crush or shatter when hit by a steel wheel so imagine what could happen if it struck something harder to crush, like an HDD? Needless to say, the Government (not to mention a railroad) would frown on doing anything that could even remotely possibly cause a derailment.

You are right of course, just remembering putting coins on the tracks in my (long ago) youth and recovering the squished sheets of metal. I think you would have to put something on both rails to have a significant possibility of derailment, but I'm not a railway engineer.

edit: ants on the tracks have been known to derail trains in Australia, so you never know...

[old_noob]

In Linux, you can wipe them with Bleachbit

Thanks for the tip! I installed it with Synaptic and will be using it from now on.

NEVER use bleachbit...Its an operating system wrecking ball......DAMIEN

GS3...After the amount of your years here in the forums, I thought you knew better than this !

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... s.html#ID4

There may be a teeny bit of sarcasm in GS3's post, as there was in mine.

[DAMIEN1307]

dead horse, I hear an echo that is
only true in misguided or uninformed use.

I am far from misguided or uninformed...in the wrong hands, i have seen people wreck their entire operating systems beyond repair, requiring a complete re-install of their systems, not to mention the lose of their precious files...I have in the past, used it myself with no problems, but then again, i KNOW what im doing...That cannot be said of others here in the forums and therefore, should never be recommended...even in jest...enough said on this topic...DAMIEN

EDIT...Be aware that there are newcomers to the forum that would and could take this as a serious "Must do, Must have" piece of garbage software that could destroy their systems, as it would now be in the hands of the unknowing following the so-called, "sage guidance", of those of us who should know better than to ever recommend it, even in jest.

[all41]

...If you want to destroy a drive without working too hard, walk down to the nearest railroad and put it on the track when you hear a train coming... or maybe not - Homeland Security might shoot you nowadays.

You are right of course, just remembering putting coins on the tracks in my (long ago) youth and recovering the squished sheets of metal. I think you would have to put something on both rails to have a significant possibility of derailment, but I'm not a railway engineer.

edit: ants on the tracks have been known to derail trains in Australia, so you never know...

Ha ha
I remember putting pennies on the track as a child--hadn't thought about that in decades though.
Hope everyone gets good rememberance

[all41]

I am far from misguided or uninformed

I understand that *.*
Bleachbit is often misused or misapplied.
Used properly Bleachbit is innoculus. Using with root privilege
is danger-zone for newcomers--no doubt.
I am not a proponent for bleachbit--when used improperly it can indeed destroy a perfect system.
Just to say there are many other such utilities that when misused can destroy your system in heartbeat as well.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I am far from misguided or uninformed

I understand that *.*
Bleachbit is often misused or misapplied.
Used properly Bleachbit is innoculus. Using with root privilege
is danger-zone for newcomers--no doubt.
I am not a proponent for bleachbit--when used improperly it can indeed destroy a perfect system.
Just to say there are many other such utilities that when misused can destroy your system in heartbeat as well.

Bleachbit is the Windows CCleaner of Linux. I only used CCleaner for wiping HDDs since I felt it was too dangerous to use for anything else, not to mention it acted more like a virus than an actual virus by embedding itself almost everywhere. I installed it only long enough to wipe an HDD, then uninstalled it, using a program for that (I forget the name) to make sure I got it all out.

[DAMIEN1307]

then uninstalled it, using a program for that (I forget the name) to make sure I got it all out.

More than likely, you used Revo Uninstaller as it is about the best one to use in Windows...lol...It would have been even better if it unistalled entire Windows OSs...lol...DAMIEN

[all41]

ccleaner itself is dangerous particularly to the ntfs file system.
Here again, as a scanner this is useful.
Granting authority to that utility to delete files at it's will is NOT an option

[AZgl1800]

If you want to destroy a drive without working too hard, walk down to the nearest railroad and put it on the track when you hear a train coming... or maybe not - Homeland Security might shoot you nowadays.

now there is an idea, the Union Pacific RR tracks are adjacent to my property for about 600 feet.

simple thing to do, just walk out to the berm and lay it on the track...

RR track.png (86.37 KiB) Viewed 1181 times

[all41]

Bleachbit is the Windows CCleaner of Linux.

I hope to never see this comparison again on forums.linuxmint.com
ccleaner was a registry based tool, and not comparable to any
Linux based applications--just sayin

[Lady Fitzgerald]

then uninstalled it, using a program for that (I forget the name) to make sure I got it all out.

More than likely, you used Revo Uninstaller as it is about the best one to use in Windows...lol...It would have been even better if it unistalled entire Windows OSs...lol...DAMIEN

Nope. It was one of those programs that had multiple tools in it.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Bleachbit is the Windows CCleaner of Linux.

I hope to never see this comparison again on forums.linuxmint.com
@Moem ccleaner was a registry based tool, and not comparable to any
Linux based applications

CCleaner is as dangerous as Bleachbit. That they work differently is immaterial; both are capable of destroying the OS.

[all41]

HI,
Tell more regarding this:
CCleaner is as dangerous as Bleachbit. That they work differently is immaterial;

[Lady Fitzgerald]

HI,
Tell more regarding this:
CCleaner is as dangerous as Bleachbit. That they work differently is immaterial;

What's to tell? CCleaner and Bleachbit both can easily nuke their respective OSes, which is in the part of my post you omitted. The next time you partially quote me, indicate that by the appropriate use of ellipses (...).