[Rhodes22-list] joke - How not to erase a hard drive

Tue, 19 Nov 2002 18:15:46 -0500

Recently, someone on the list was advised to erase the hard drive on a
computer that was going to be given away. Here is one way to do it...Mike

                   COMPUTERWORLD DAILY SHARK
                       November 19, 2002
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 Shark Tank: But it DID destroy the data

 At this small rural hospital, when IT staffers decommission old PCs,
 they're careful to destroy all the data on the hard drives, says an IT
 pilot fish there.

 "Having no access to a regular disk-wipe system, we would always take
 the hard drive out of the PC and into the room with the magnetic
 resonance imaging machine," fish says.

 "An MRI machine is primarily a huge electromagnet, so simply walking
 into the room with the drive would scramble the bits."

 But one day, a relatively new PC tech can't get the case off an old PC
 to remove the hard drive. "He thought that if taking the hard drive
 near the MRI would clean it, then surely taking the entire computer in
 there would serve the same purpose," says fish.

 So the tech loads the PC onto a cart and heads for Radiology, where he
 enlists the help of the MRI tech in rolling the cart into the room.

 "Bad idea," fish says. "The PC was just sitting on top of the cart,
 and when they got to within 10 feet of the MRI machine's aperture, the
 PC started to slide.

 "It picked up speed, then literally flew off the cart, crashing into
 the opening where a patient would lie during an exam."

 There are gouges in the MRI machine. The legs of the cart have been
 smashed. The PC's case looks like a crumpled fender. And the stunned PC
 and MRI techs are just glad they weren't in the way when PC and cart
 took off.

 "We tried to get the PC out of the magnet without turning off the MRI,
 because turning it off and back on and recalibrating it would take
 three days and cost a bundle," fish says.

 "We wrapped it with duct tape, tied three thick ropes to it, then
 enlisted 12 large men from maintenance to try to pull it out."

 No luck. When they pull, the PC floats in the opening, but they can't
 drag it out.

 "Yes, we had to turn the MRI off," says fish. "It took three days and
 support folks from the vendor had to be flown in to restart it. Luckily
 we were insured for loss of business.

 "And we bought a disk-wipe system."

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 Can't get enough Tank?

 Check out other bite-sized bits of humor, rumors, gossip and fun at
 The Sharkives:

 http://www.computerworld.com/departments/opinions/sharktank

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