this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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Privacy
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So if you’re an average user on Windows and your computer won’t boot, how would you wipe the drive?
Of course I’m not an average computer user and I understand how to do it, but I’m just trying to understand how an average user would do this if say, the bootloader or partition table is corrupt?
Sledgehammer.
Years ago, we used a drill press. And I'm not kidding.
You wrap a fridge magnet in a soft cloth (so it doesn’t scratch anything) and then give it a good scrubbing duh. Make sure you get between all the keys (the data can get stuck in there)
I'd extract the hard drive from the computer chassis and plug it into a working system using a drive repair hookup (an external drive array without the enclosure). I'd borrow a friend's if it was possible.
The problem is the hard drive is commonly the thing that bricks, in which case your SOL. This is where you (and businesses with business secrets) are lucky to know a data-recovery expert that doesn't squeal to the coppers. Few do.
I guess for this thread to really be productive we’d have to define “average user.” My point hinges on assuming that average users wouldn’t really understand most of what you wrote.
I’ve done data recovery for people before and I definitely do NOT snoop. I’m really big on respecting privacy and for the most part I use a Linux CLI to do it so I might happen to see some filenames here and there but I’m not really looking through stuff.
And I applaud your privacy ethic.
Yes, the average user is neither aware of the process of drive recovery / data erasure, nor aware of exposure risks that come with taking your system to Geek Squad.
I suspect most of them are not engaged in anything that might excite the FBI (so are only guilty of the typical CFAA violations that are not enforced except when an official wants to silence a given journalist).
Though to be fair there are a lot of ignorant criminals.