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07 May 2008
Scientists have managed to recover critical data from experiments carried out in space from a hard drive found in the wreckage of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
The hard drive was onboard when the shuttle disintegrated 39 miles up, while travelling at a speed of 12,500mph.
The drive was found and 99 per cent of the data has now been recovered and processed by Ontrack Data Recovery in Minneapolis.
Among other data, the drive contained the results of the Critical Viscosity of Xenon (CVX-2) experiment, which studied the movement of gas particles in zero gravity.
The experiment was set up as part of a 20-year study into the movement of xenon and has finally been published in Physical Review E.
"We assumed that it fell out of the cage and burned up," said Robert Berg, lead investigator for CVX-2, and a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. "It was a load off my shoulders to finally get it published."
Data recovery specialists are becoming increasingly adept at finding and collating data from seemingly wiped hard drives.
Many hard drives are only reformatted once, leaving nearly all the data intact, and experts now recommend physically destroying the drive platters as the only way to ensure that data cannot be accessed.
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Hard drive data erasure - smashing hard drives Luddite-fashion won't please the manufacturers who are trying to be green!
Fortunately, comments like those of the police officer who gave his views on the only way to securely erase data as "Petrol, matches and a big hammer ..... the only way to be sure," are as rare as mink coats and matching crocodile accessories at a PETA convention. However, the growing emphasis, or should that be paranoia, with data security is a rollercoaster that is out of control. IT disposal specialists fight a constant battle with new clients who want to destroy data-bearing assets to try and encourage re-use of IT equipment in it's original form. We are also questioned and relied on heavily by the IT manufacturers who want our re-use statistics so that they can keep the WEEE police at bay. Smashing hard drives so that PCs, laptops and servers have to go to the big recycling plant in the sky drives the costs of disposal forever upwards for businesses, as remarketing revenue of re-used equipment vanishes into the crushers with it. To this end, suitably accredited organisations use HM Government approved erasure solutions such as Blancco and stress its potency, relying on their 100% guarantees for secure data destruction. This enables us to do the right thing environmentally and re-use. It also allows us to offer our service to 85% of our clients free of charge (and indeed provide significant revenue return to the majority). We also give data controllers a peaceful night's sleep and keep their CSR departments off their backs at Annual Report time! The real issue would be if it was found that data on a drive wiped using one of HM Government's approved methods was restored. Until that actually happens, please no more scaremongering about data security. Do stress the importance of using specialist professionals to securely erase data so that assets can be re-used, and perhaps remind that police officer quoted earlier that an increasing number of Forces in the UK are considering their environmental impact and appreciating a zero-cost solution made possible by re-use!
Posted by: Jon Selby, Tier 1 Asset Management Ltd 07 May 2008