Questions tagged [destruction]
Disposal of storage media, destroying the data stored on it. For the disposal of data, use the tag [deletion].
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Shred, cut, melt, smash, grind, then flush, is it secure disposal of a security access id card?
I had a card like a credit card that I used to use for work. It was an ID card, and it had an access code, a swiper, a barcode, my picture, my name, my rank, my license, the name of the company, and ...
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If I smash this phone into a million pieces is it secure?
This phone that I am using has some very sensitive info on it. I am wondering if it will be secure if I take a hammer and smash it into many pieces, and if I take the pieces and throw them out at ...
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As a private individual, cleanly destroy a large number of paper documents. Are there alternatives to the consumer shredder?
I need to safely dispose of about 30 federal folders. That means 95% of the documents will be shredded and the rest stored. I bought a small shredder for private people (professional shredders are too ...
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How file deletion works?
If deleting files just removes the references then why not just delete the actual files instead of just removing the references?
Just removing the references leaves the file intact until it is ...
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How to disable data from an presumably dead USB thumb drive while leaving it physically intact?
The data on my USB thumb drive is no longer accessible using a usual consumer computer (cf. https://superuser.com/questions/1687720).
I wish to make sure that someone cannot extract data from it ...
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Have I properly destroyed my SSD?
I held every chip (without desoldering, they were still onboard) in a lighter flame for a minute or two. They started "popping" a little if that indicates anything.
Then I drove a nail into ...
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If an SSD uses TRIM, is there any reason to destroy it physically to protect one's data?
If an SSD uses TRIM such as a Mac with TRIM support when it deletes files, I've been told that it is completely unrecoverable. Therefore, is it ever really better protection to physically destroy the ...
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How to best prevent data recovery on a disk drive without physically destroying it? [duplicate]
The recommended way of ensuring that data on a hard disk cannot be recovered is to destroy it physically, for example using a hammer, drill or even thermite.
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When physical disk destruction is ...
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I snapped my micro SD card into 8 pieces before throwing it away. Should I be worried that someone can get my data?
The card was a 16gb SanDisk micro SD card (monolithic).
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What degree of physical destruction is sufficient to ensure an SSD is not readable?
My organization has upgraded a few printers and decommissioned the internal SSD hard drives by passing the memory chips through a band saw, cutting each chip into halves, and in some cases tearing ...
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Do all hard drives support Device Configuration Overlay (DCO) and Host Protected Area (HPA) for data sanitization?
In the absence of physical destruction of hard drives including flash and SSD (since they are often re-used in different parts of the business or re-purposed for donation), the hard drives are ...
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Brute forcing encryption password (self destruct after 4 attempts)
My colleague at work lost the password to his external hard drive (HDD not SSD), a WD Elements. He remembers that his password was simple and 8 characters maximum.
The problem is the encryption ...
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Will overwriting a file before deleting guarantee the destruction of the original file's data [duplicate]
Say I have a file I want to erase. Simply deleting it is not enough. It still resides in the recycle bin. Emptying the recycle bin does little as well, the actual data is not deleted just the pointer, ...
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Can I make my Micro SD card physically unreadable if I cut the card (including its pin section) apart with scissors?
I have a corrupted Micro SD card of which I saved the data already on my PC.
I want to throw the Micro SD into the waste because it is basically useless because my Windows phone gets nuts with it. ...
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How to you prevent accidental data/document leakage in a byod world?
As an employee in one of the now endless tech organisations that promote BYOD mobile and laptop devices, or devices in general that can be taken home and or used off premise, how do you prevent ...