> Awhile back, someone - I forget who - made the comment that the only
> way to really erase data was with thermite. I'm not sure if the comment
> was indended literally, but...
Thermite (they still use it routinely to weld streetcar rails, a great
show even in the sunlight, fumes lit by lava, wow), or a sheet of
electrically ignited (system call Detonate() ) plastique taped onto the
drive.
> Basic thermite is just a combination of aluminum powder and iron oxide.
> ( hydroxide? I forget ) Sounds pretty similar to the composition of the
Oxide. Coarse aluminum powder. Fine aluminum powder withh lead oxide
kinda explodes.
> platter itself. Is it possible to make a platter of cast thermite?
I dunno whether it already happened, but the trend goes towards sputtered
high-tech stuff (on-glass? IBM?). The platter is still aluminum, though.
Thermite won't stand even weak centrifugal forces, though.
> If so, this opens up new horizons for really secure data.
Crypt, and destroy. Erase with grace.
> The microproccesor in the drive mechanism could be instructed to ask
> for a key at start-up. If it doesn't get it, it refuses to seek data.
> If it gets several consecutive bad keys, it ignites the disk.
I actually thought about several 100 g of plastique in the cabinet, for
software copy protection. (Better than dongles. Pirates having to wear
kevlar-lined pinstripe suits).
> It should be possible to rig a dead-man switch so that the case cannot be
> forced open without turning the platter into molten slag.
Of course ;)
> For the really paranoid, a cmos clock chip and battery could be added
> internally. If a period of several days goes by without the microprocessor
> getting the key, it ignites the disk. ( Of course the time period should
> be programmable so that one can take vacations )
Why risk missing the fun? Much better than a cranial explosive charge.
suDDENL...
>
> Robert Schrader rms@cts.com
>
>
ciao,
'gene
P.S. aural float -- dub up the virus
______________________________________________________________________________
|mailto:ui22204@sunmail.lrz-muenchen.de |transhumanism >H, cryonics, |
|mailto:Eugene.Leitl@uni-muenchen.de |nanotechnology, etc. etc. |
|mailto:c438@org.chemie.uni-muenchen.de |"deus ex machina, v.0.0.alpha" |
|icbmto:N 48 10'07'' E 011 33'53'' |http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~ui22204 |