Question How Can I Erase My Old Electronic Media

[Warren Russell]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and wasn't sure whether to post this in Memory, Storage, or some other forum. Administrators, please feel free to move it if it shouldn't be here.

I've been into personal computers since the beginning, and through the years have stored a lot of data: on everything from floppy disks to high-capacity tapes and... you name it.

My wife and I finally got around to cleaning out our garage (which we've always used just for storage. There were boxes and boxes of this stuff. I'm thinking of donating it to the local thrift store, but obviously I want to erase the data first. What's the best way to do that? Years ago we used to have bulk erasers, and I think they might have been used for this purpose. But a search on Best Buy and Amazon for "bulk erasers" found nothing. I also l did a search for degausser. I found a few at Amazon, but none of them appeared to be designed for this purpose.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Warren

 

[Lafong]

I have or had a degausser myself.....hand-held gizmo about the size of a fist, intended to erase tapes. Don't know if it is still around.

My thinking was and still is "how do I know that stuff on that tape was truly erased unless I play it back to find out".

If data is truly sensitive, I'd consign it to a fire or a saw rather than simply turn it over to a thrift store and be left wondering what may have survived your attempts.

How much time and expense are you willing to spend on such a project? It's no doubt doable one way or another.

 

[Warren Russell]

I actually think that there is very little (if any) data that would be very sensitive, but who knows? I don't have the equipment to play these back, and (to answer your question), I don't want to spend very much time and expense on this.

A fire and a saw might be the optimal solution, but I would end up taking it to the landfill, which I don't like to do.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Lafong]

I don't want to spend very much time and expense on this.

A fire and a saw might be the optimal solution, but I would end up taking it to the landfill, which I don't like to do.

Given the above, I'd say you are in a bind....assuming you have more than a few disks/tapes to attack.

Offhand.....what are the chances any donation to a thrift store does not ultimately end up in a landfill?

 

[Warren Russell]

Yes, I certainly have more than a few!

As for your question... The chances are probably slight, but not zero, I think... but I could be wrong.

 

[Lafong]

I guess you get to evaluate:

Your conscience

versus

A thrift store buyer putting it in a landfill

versus

Doing nothing and let your survivors worry about the contents of your garage.

I'm probably leaving out more choices.