A little over my head, the way I see it without downloading all the pdf files is that Windows 7 and Vista come with a lot of spyware, what is this Bitlocker? Is this a third party blocker to fix this?:hmmm:

It lets you encrypt data, think entire drive in this case. Only comes with Ultimate though.

Think those articles are focused on decrypting data encrypted with Bitlocker.

I assume nothing for us to worry about then.:hmmm:

If there's something illegal going on on your PC and it is confiscated, they will find what they're looking for, no matter what features the OS may or may not have. ;)

I wouldn't worry, no.

A liberal application of OO buckshot to the hard drive is a pretty good encyption method. ;)

:lol:

Yeah, though glue doesn't work well for decrypting. And they can still get data from the fragments.

The only reliable way to destroy data on a drive is open it and cook the platters - flame does wonders on em - but you have to heat it to the point where the platters melt. Best way to do that is open the drive - or get it SUPER hot.....

No forensics team in the world can get data off melted platters.

Might have something to do with the fact they no longer hold any data. :O:

How about simply writing garbage to the entire drive? Thought that effectively destroyed any valid data as well. :06:

Actually the best way to wipe a drive is to pass it through a strong magnetic field.

Done properly no data is recoverable. I dont care if your Gandolph.

Both heat and strong magnets can kill drives... Not to hard to do..

i had an old 20 gig and melted it few years ago.. Just curious to see the results.. It was defective anyways... :hmmm:

My next one I'm thinking of frying is my 6gig laptop HDD.. I curious how those little ones hold out to there bigger brother. :D

Overwriting data isn't going to do the job anymore. Even magnetic fields - depending on strength and duration - are not foolproof.

With data, past data leaves an "imprint" or ghost - its why DOD security standards require a "multi-wipe" process. There are still some ways around this, if the data was stored long enough. Mag fields can really do a number on data, but the issue is that it will more screw up the data than technically destroy it, some small sections may remain - and sometimes little pieces are all thats needed.....

Heat however, is alot more uniform (magnetic fields can flow along the metal casing, never touching the platters) in the way it will invade and destroy a HD. If I had a disk that I wanted to make sure was good and unrecoverable - 2 hours in a magnetic field or 2 hours in a fireplace full of red hot coals - no question I am going with heat.

I throw all of mine in the bottom of the lake ... the fishies can't read :woot: