Windows NTFS and undeletable files

RTapeLoadingError

I'd like to note that simply opening up the drive and emptying your vacuum cleaner over it will render it unusable for common scenarios, such as yanking it, putting it in another machine and just copying all data.

Is this number 1 in a series of "Render your drive unusable with household products?"

Would dropping the drive in a pan of boiling chip fat work?

dhromed

@RTapeLoadingError said:

Is this number 1 in a series of "Render your drive unusable with household products?"

It's the spiritual successor to Fingers in Fruit.

@RTapeLoadingError said:

Would dropping the drive in a pan of boiling chip fat work?

Let's try.

Medezark

@dhromed said:

@alegr said:

@Medezark said:

NO NO NO -- The proper way to erase files on an NTFS partition in Windows NT is to remove the hard drive from the computer and use a 3000 gaus bulk tape eraser on the drive, going through at least 5 on-off cycles. That will ensure that the file is irrecoverable. The whole drive in fact.

I'm afraid it's not strong enough for the modern HDD. It may fry the electronics, though.

A modern drive with "secure erase" feature can be erased instantly, by overwriting its internal encryption key. This makes all information unrecoverable.

I'd like to note that simply opening up the drive and emptying your vacuum cleaner over it will render it unusable for common scenarios, such as yanking it, putting it in another machine and just copying all data.

I bow to the simplicity and effectiveness of your proposed solution -- looking for a teeny-tiny torx screwdriver now, having already obtained a full vacuum cleaner bag...........

dhromed

@Medezark said:

looking for a teeny-tiny torx screwdriver now

Recently bought me a box of those, so no problem there.

nonpartisan

@Sir Twist said:

@blakeyrat said:
But what happens when the new OS is in place and you re-create your user? Does Windows overwrite your user profile with the new one, or is it smart enough to give the new one a name like "rtaranu-1"?
Actually, it first tries appending the machine name to the user name (user.MACHINE). I think if that fails (already exists), it also appends a number.

It looks like that, but what it's actually appending is the user account's domain name. For a local account, the domain is the machine's name. But in an enterprise environment using a domain account, it is immediately apparent that the suffix is the domain.