DISKSTROYER™

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q: What exactly is DISKSTROYER™?

A: It’s a set of specific tools with illustrated step-by-step directions showing you how to disassemble and destroy your old computer hard disk. Once you’ve completed the process, all data on the disk will be destroyed.

Q: Do all computers have a hard disk?

A: Yes, almost all have a hard disk. There are a few very small laptop computers on the market these days (commonly called netbooks) that do not. They use a small memory chip instead. These also usually have a very small amount of storage available. But, odds are overwhelming that you have a hard disk in your computer.

Q: Why should I care about this?

A: You would be surprised at how much personal data is on your average computer hard disk. If you do your banking, stock trading, income taxes or even just shopping on-line, a lot of confidential data could be stored on your disk. There could be anything from personal correspondences, your income tax records or even your credit card numbers and user passwords stored there. If this data gets into the hands of someone who’s not too honest, you could face months, if not years of effort and the loss of potentially thousands of dollars to restore your credit and finances.

Q: I’ve heard that most websites store data on my computer disk drive in “cookies.” Is this true?

A: Yes, many do use cookies. In most cases this is just fine. They’ll have information in them like the last item you were viewing or just a reference number to the database on their secured computers with your customer information. In these cases someone would need to hack into the websites secured systems to get any information about you.

Q: I thought that personal data was not stored in cookies.

A: Cookies are not supposed to have data like usernames, passwords or credit card numbers. But, that all depends on the programming skills and ethics of the website where you are shopping. If the business where you shop on-line makes an error in the programming of their site they could easily store any data they want in cookies on your computer.

Q: Before I removed my hard disk from my computer I ran a disk erase program that said it would completely erase all data off of my disk. Do I still need to buy DISKSTROYER™?

A: Yes. There are a number of programs available that claim to totally wipe out all of the data off of your computer hard disk. But, what programs have you ever seen that are 100% defect free? All it takes is one small defect in that program to leave some data on your disk. What if the trouble with your disk was mechanical and it was unable to access all sectors or platters of your disk? It’s possible that a perfectly running wipe program was unable to erase everything on your disk.

Q: The store where I bought my new computer said that they would dispose of my old computer along with the hard disk. Won’t they properly dispose of my disk ensuring that all of my data has been destroyed?

A: Don’t count on it. I personally went to a lot of computer repair shops and asked for old hard disks. I universally got one of two answers:

• “Sure, here are some disks”
• “Sorry, we give them back to the customers to deal with.”

 So, in either case you end up with the disk yourself or it ends up in the stores trash can.

Q: If there was a mechanical issue that prevented my disk wipe program from working, wouldn’t it be impossible for someone else to access that data too?

A: No. There are companies out there that can take a disk that is physically broken (platters won’t spin or the read/write heads won’t move for example), open it up, take out the disk platters and install them in special disk reading machines that can then access your data. Most of these places are legitimate businesses that people use to recover lost data on broken hard disks. The legitimate disk owner or a thief could take a disk to one of these businesses to have data recovered from a disk. If these businesses can recover data from these disks, who else also knows how?

The only way for you to be absolutely sure that your data has been destroyed is for you to destroy it yourself with DISKSTROYER™!

Q: How long does this whole process take?

A: It’s a very fast process. If you’ve never done this process before the actual disassembly and disk platter destruction could take as long as 20 minutes the first time. Once you’ve done one, you can easily do more disks in less than ten minutes each.

Q: Do I need to do this in my garage or someplace where I won’t damage my furniture or flooring?

A: You can safely do the entire process on your kitchen table. It shouldn’t mar or leave marks on any surface that you work on. The very last step does have you bend the disk. If your kitchen table is particularly fragile or brittle (like a glass table top) you could do the last step on the floor. And, there are no harsh chemicals or fumes from this process.

Q: My hard disk is still inside my old computer. How do I get it out so I can use the DISKSTROYER™ product?

A: There are so many different brands and models of computers on the market that it is functionally impossible for us to give you the needed step-by-step directions to remove your disk.

We can give you the general steps required to remove the disk but you will need to consult your computer manufacturer’s website for the exact directions for your computer.

DESKTOP COMPUTER:

The basic steps are to disconnect the power cord from the back of your computer, open the computer cabinet, locate your disk drive, unplug the cables from the back of it (you’ll find a ribbon cable and a power cable), remove the retaining screws from the sides and then slide out the disk. There are some models that don’t have retaining screws but use clips instead.

LAPTOP COMPUTER:

In most laptop computers the disk drive is either under the keyboard, under an access panel on the bottom or is removed from the side.

The best advice we can offer you for this step is to consult your computer manufacturer’s website. They should have detailed directions there on how to remove the disk from your particular brand and model of computer.

The tools in the DISKSTROYER™ kit can be used to remove your hard disk once you have the directions from the manufacturer’s website.

Q: Shouldn’t the name of this product be, “DISCSTROYER” and the company name be “DISCSTRUCTION?” I thought that it was properly spelled, “disc,” not “disk.”

A: If you are talking about a CD or DVD disc, then the correct spelling is “disc.” But, in the case of computer hard disk storage devices the correct spelling is “disk.” But, it is also very common for these two spellings to be used interchangeably.

You can find out more about these two spellings by using your favorite search engine and enter, “disc vs disk” and sit back with a cup of coffee for a long read!