[GTALUG] Ten grand for this?

phiscock at ee.ryerson.ca phiscock at ee.ryerson.ca
Sat Dec 19 12:14:51 UTC 2015


>
> If I were tasked with cleaning up after something that required disk
> destruction, I'd order a bunch of new preinstalled-windows disks first,
> swap them out and then disassemble and grind off the magnetic surfaces
> with a disk-grinder before discarding the old disks.
>
Years ago, when the SAGE air defense system used drum memory units
manufactured by Ferranti, they would be resurfaced periodically by being
sent to Toronto - handcuffed to a human guard. The drum would be turned
down on a lathe and the shavings collected into a bag by the human guard,
and the drum then returned back into service.

I guess the bag thing was to ensure that no one could reconstruct the
information from the shavings, which seems pretty improbable.

Peter

-- 
Peter Hiscocks
Syscomp Electronic Design Limited, Toronto
http://www.syscompdesign.com
USB Oscilloscope and Waveform Generator
647-839-0325



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