How would you destroy DAT backups?

SquareHead · Post by **SquareHead** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:42 am

At work I have been charged with the disposal of our old DAT backups from our previous system. The thing is that these are currently unsusable to us with our new system, and we have no way of getting at the info thats stored on them. (We have hardcopy of all that was on these anyway.) But my trouble is that I don't want to just throw them away because they have about a year's worth of financial transactions and customer info on them (possibly up to 10 years). Even though these database files were made on a proprietary system, I fear that they may still be readable in some form. So I see all kinds of ways to destroy these magnetic tapes, but I want to know what you guys would think would be an effective, or easy, or fun way to safely dispose of all this info.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:49 am

You should be able to use the same software that hds use to wipe data permanently.

franpa · Post by **franpa** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:56 am

use a microwave or a blow torch or something...

AntoineWG · Post by **AntoineWG** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:14 am

Go to your nearest metal garbage can. Pull the tapes completely out of the cassettes over some crumpled up paper. Add fire. The polyester tape inside should burn quite quickly and completely. Don't get too close or you could lose an eyebrow or 2.

Or you could use the tape drive and backup software. Perform a security erasure, which will wipe the tapes clean. Then, overwrite them with random garbage (back up your ROM collection or something), then erase again. That should render the original data totally unreadable.

SquareHead · Post by **SquareHead** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:38 am

Was thinking of fire, or microwave. Cannot use computer based methods as we lost the hardware to do so.

If I cannot do fire, was also thinking of pulling the tape out, and cutting it every couple of inches.

Thanks for the suggestions though, and keep em coming.

darkbenny · Post by **darkbenny** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:07 pm

i suggest fire

Bent · Post by **Bent** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:19 pm

Fire cleans all.

zoink · Post by **zoink** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:47 pm

creaothceann · Post by **creaothceann** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:36 pm

Tell NASA to take off and nuke the entire place from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:41 pm

big ass giant magnet.

burning them might not be the safest idea.

blackmyst · Post by **blackmyst** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:13 pm

creaothceann wrote:Tell NASA to take off and nuke the entire place from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

har

I would say...take them out to sea and dump them. Or something. Cutting the tape every few inches would be a huge amount of work, aren't there any kind of paper shredders that could handle that sorta thing?

Johan_H · Post by **Johan_H** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:59 pm

Eat them

Firon · Post by **Firon** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 6:00 pm

It's magnetic tape. A strong degausser would erase it.

Clements · Post by **Clements** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 6:35 pm

Liquid Helium + Hammer

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:05 pm

This feels like "Office Space".

Oskar_Hanberg · Post by **Oskar_Hanberg** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:51 pm

Give it to a 2 year old and it will be unusable within a few minutes.

MisterJones · Post by **MisterJones** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 11:53 pm

Shit on them

darkbenny · Post by **darkbenny** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:00 am

semen 'em

Post by **Nach** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:57 am

rip the covers off, put them in a big bin, pour in industrial strength draino. Soak for 3 days or until nothing left.

SquareHead · Post by **SquareHead** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:53 am

Clements wrote:Liquid Helium + Hammer

Damn close. After conversing with the boss, they're going to have one of our engineers take them outside and destroy with a sledge hammer.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:15 pm

SquareHead wrote:
Clements wrote:Liquid Helium + Hammer
Damn close. After conversing with the boss, they're going to have one of our engineers take them outside and destroy with a sledge hammer.

See, it's a reenactment of Office Space. Film it for entertainment.

SquareHead · Post by **SquareHead** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:48 am

Deathlike2 wrote:
SquareHead wrote:
Clements wrote:Liquid Helium + Hammer
Damn close. After conversing with the boss, they're going to have one of our engineers take them outside and destroy with a sledge hammer.
See, it's a reenactment of Office Space. Film it for entertainment.

If I am anywhere close. They don't want ME wielding a sledge for some reason.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:58 am

SquareHead wrote:
Deathlike2 wrote:
SquareHead wrote:
Clements wrote:Liquid Helium + Hammer
Damn close. After conversing with the boss, they're going to have one of our engineers take them outside and destroy with a sledge hammer.
See, it's a reenactment of Office Space. Film it for entertainment.
If I am anywhere close. They don't want ME wielding a sledge for some reason.

Perhaps you have the same anger the guys in the movie possessed when they did the destruction of the printer. That scene was beautiful.

Oskar_Hanberg · Post by **Oskar_Hanberg** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:12 am

Not really related.. but in my opinion close enough.

http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx? ... =cassettes

Noxious Ninja · Post by **Noxious Ninja** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 1:29 am

Giant stack of tapes + thermite would have been better.