Molten Copper Versus Hard Drive

Steve said:
Here's another good way to erase a hard drive. Just pour a couple pounds of 2,000°F molten copper on your hard drive, wait a few minutes and there you have it, crispy platters.
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Oh yea....because we all have a steaming hot cup of molten copper just sitting around waiting to be used when the feds actually catch up to us.....lol
 
And yet another useless Youtube "Destroy X item" video that I won't click on because each view gives the idiot more money.
 
Interestingly enough, there was a Defcon talk I listened to a while ago about a guy trying to develop a system that can remotely destroy HDD. There's some amusing things in there:
 
Strap that hunk-o-copper to your CPU and enjoy silent computing with some tech-art thrown in.
 
Creig said:
And yet another useless Youtube "Destroy X item" video that I won't click on because each view gives the idiot more money.
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why is he an idiot? It's not like a destroy brand new ps4 video. The hard drive was probably dead and he wanted the data destroyed.

side note: it wasn't very effective. put the hard drive in a vice with a small item on the top side of the drive (like a nut or screw) to act as a pressure point. Turn the vice tight until you hear the platter shatter. Data safe.
 
Fr crying out loud folks, unless its amazing or spectacular to look at...just don't bother and stop wasting your time.

"Yayyy look I created a expensive useless mess!"
 
The temperature of the copper probably got the platter above the Curie temperature so he effectively demagetized it before he broke it. That said seems like an incredible waste of copper, but I'm guessing he's the type of guy to remelt it down and make an ingot out of it, but now he has hard drive crap stuck it in.

Made me wonder what that silver crap was when he flipped the drive, too much stuff for it to be solder, did all the copper really bring the temperature of the metal plate to above 1200 F?
Probably could have just as easily put the drive in his furnace too... although maybe not as easily due to the odd shape.
 
sfsuphysics said:
The temperature of the copper probably got the platter above the Curie temperature so he effectively demagetized it before he broke it. That said seems like an incredible waste of copper, but I'm guessing he's the type of guy to remelt it down and make an ingot out of it, but now he has hard drive crap stuck it in.

Made me wonder what that silver crap was when he flipped the drive, too much stuff for it to be solder, did all the copper really bring the temperature of the metal plate to above 1200 F?
Probably could have just as easily put the drive in his furnace too... although maybe not as easily due to the odd shape.
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would have been cool to see it go in the furnace then pour out
 
daglesj said:
Fr crying out loud folks, unless its amazing or spectacular to look at...just don't bother and stop wasting your time.

"Yayyy look I created a expensive useless mess!"
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An expensive useless mess that a lot of people are going to watch and make me tons of money. Why you think so many people destroy expensive iPhones? The cost of the iPhone doesn't compare to the revenue made from YouTube.
 
sfsuphysics said:
The temperature of the copper probably got the platter above the Curie temperature so he effectively demagetized it before he broke it. That said seems like an incredible waste of copper, but I'm guessing he's the type of guy to remelt it down and make an ingot out of it, but now he has hard drive crap stuck it in.

Made me wonder what that silver crap was when he flipped the drive, too much stuff for it to be solder, did all the copper really bring the temperature of the metal plate to above 1200 F?
Probably could have just as easily put the drive in his furnace too... although maybe not as easily due to the odd shape.
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At least copper has crashed in price compared to a few years ago when thieves were cutting everyone's wiring to scav the metal.

$2.21/pound as of this morning.
 
That burning pcb is quite toxic. I've smelled burning chips before and it's not pretty. I can't imagine a whole pcb on fire like that.
 
Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to use thermite? Thermite also burns at least twice as hot as this.
 
It gives me the urge to search YouTube for metal casting accidents caused by wearing inappropriate shoes and clothing.
 
Azphira said:
It gives me the urge to search YouTube for metal casting accidents caused by wearing inappropriate shoes and clothing.
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There's a saying...There's lots of old electricians, and lots of dumb electricians; but seldom both.
 
I could use some molten copper. I had two drives fail in my RAID last week - I normally disassemble to play with the magnets. This would be way more fun (until I burnt my house down in the process).
When I watched the video, I was wondering why the guy doesn't have a protective apron on? If that splattered on his skin, holy hell would that burn. My brother was welding once and had some of the slag fall into his boot.
 
steakman1971 said:
I could use some molten copper. I had two drives fail in my RAID last week - I normally disassemble to play with the magnets. This would be way more fun (until I burnt my house down in the process).
When I watched the video, I was wondering why the guy doesn't have a protective apron on? If that splattered on his skin, holy hell would that burn. My brother was welding once and had some of the slag fall into his boot.
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Not only was he missing an apron...he was wearing shorts and sneakers.

Usually people that stupid doing things like this learn their lesson in short order.
 
Hum..... I'm impressed.... more by the fact that it came up to exactly 3 pounds.
 
Okay, this is cool and everything but doesn't change the fact that the NSA probably already has a clone of that drive...

Unless this is the NSA's copy? :eek:
 
Skripka said:
At least copper has crashed in price compared to a few years ago when thieves were cutting everyone's wiring to scav the metal.

$2.21/pound as of this morning.
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Has it? Only thing I remember is 15 years ago or so buying a few 1000ft spools of wire, then when needing some of a different gauge nearly shitting a kitten to how expensive it is. I'm guessing the price of copper goods (pipe, wire, etc) still hasn't dropped yet though.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Has it? Only thing I remember is 15 years ago or so buying a few 1000ft spools of wire, then when needing some of a different gauge nearly shitting a kitten to how expensive it is. I'm guessing the price of copper goods (pipe, wire, etc) still hasn't dropped yet though.
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Down over half from the "jack-up an SUV and cut out the wiring harness" days.

Historical Copper Prices and Price Chart
 
Armenius said:
Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to use thermite? Thermite also burns at least twice as hot as this.
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Watch the Defcon video I posted above. Thermite is actually difficult to implement in destroying hard drives because the drives act as a giant heat sink. The best method is degaussing, crushing, and spreading the remains.
 
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