Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> I'm told if you take the drive apart, you can take advantage of slight 
> tracking errors in the read/write heads that allows traces of old 
> signals to remain present at the margins of each track.

Yes. That's why the DoD doesn't actually erase disks that contain 
*really* sensitive information. Unless you consider a grinding stone 
"erasing".

> ....or just incinerate the platters? (Heat tends to disrupt magnetic 
> domains rather efficiently - as does the platters being reduced to 
> molten glass and deformed beyond recognition!)

No, I believe the actual rule is "grind off the surface, then dissolve 
the platters."

> It's more the fact that the drives had licenced software on them that 
> other people shouldn't have...

Right. Simple overwriting is enough. Like all security, the point is to 
make it more expensive to recover the data than the data is worth.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Helpful housekeeping hints:
   Check your feather pillows for holes
    before putting them in the washing machine.

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