Abstract
In the era of exponential data growth, it is essential to ensure data security and protection. Therefore, effective data sanitization of retired storage devices, such as hard disk drives (HDDs), becomes critically important. This invention proposes materials, design, and a methodology for autonomous self-destructing of HDDs. The self-destructing HDDs have a heating element implemented on the arm suspension. The heating element is a thin wire made of high-resistance materials like Tungsten, Nichrome (NiCr) or Kanthal (FeCrAl). Once the self-destructing command is triggered, a current having a pre-defined amplitude is pumped through the heating element. As the heating element is in close proximity to the magnetic media (e.g., 0.3mm gap), the heating wire can quickly heat up the magnetic media to and beyond its Curie temperature, and the data on the storage media is then effectively demagnetized and destroyed. The proposed autonomous self-destructing methodology can reliably and irreversibly destroy all user data stored on the magnetic media of the enclosed HDD devices. The approach is independent of the operating condition of the recording heads; it does not cause damage to the external enclosure and then can preserve the HDD components to the maximum extent for recycling and reuse.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Walz, Randi; Ming Yap, Pow; Alvin Teo, Swee How; Zhang, Li Hong; and Lim, Jun Long, "HDDs Having Self-Destruction Capability", Technical Disclosure Commons, ()
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/12254