It's actually very difficult to truly destroy data, especially remotely. There is actually a reason the DoD spec. requires physical destruction of the media.
Unless you have overwritten the area on the physical disk that contained the data, multiple times, the data can still be recovered.
The article doesn't lead me to believe that he's tried very hard to get this data back.. Maybe somebody (not me) who cares about this resource, should offer an attempt at data recovery.. Just be sure to hurry, before they do something that will ensure you cannot recover the data.
I've recovered data off of formatted HDD's, off of corrupted file systems, off of compact flash cards and other media (Really useful if you want to keep those photo's that someone thought was deleted, be aware of this people).
It's amazing how most people seem to think deleted means gone.
Crayons = wax. As a dad I can tell you when a crayon goes through the dryer it is carnage, so if your memory stick threat model includes going through the wash, I would avoid wax.
LOL- No kids.. Didn't think about the crayon factor..
Try alcohol rather than water for washing. It is best if you can get 100% alcohol which may be available from your drug store if you ask for it. It dries quickly and thoroughly with ease whereas water tends to hide and remain moist.
For this application, de-natured alcohol would be a fine product. You can find it at any home construction supply house, and it'll be much cheaper per volume unit than medical grade alcohol.
As an amateur diver, I do NOT recommend gluing your O-ring. These things lose their suppleness and crack, rendering them ineffective.
Make sure the groove is very smooth to prevent nicking the ring, insert the o-ring in it and lube the ring once in a while (once a year should be more than enough) with silicone grease.
As for Epoxy: it should do the job in a pinch, but I would recommend looking at some silicone gelly like Olympus uses for it's Tough cameras. More flexibility = less cracking = less possibility of water seeping to the board. Most USB keys get flexed often in pockets, etc.
Hey, I know it's overkill for a 10$ trinket, but if you gotta do it, you gotta do it in style.
Honestly, at some level, wax would really do just fine too... Easier to work with, and could actually serve as the 0-ring too... (just fill the cap and empty out the central area (so as to not wax up the connector.)
USB drives are super cool like that. (No moving parts!)
All you need is a little 2-part epoxy.
Take apart your flash drive (any!) and simply coat the green / black components with as much epoxy as you can stuff into it's exterior shell..
Now, the cap, buy a thin o-ring from your local hardware store, using a knife or dremel, cut a very narrow groove around the inside of your cap. Carefully use epoxy (sparingly here!) to secure the o-ring..
This might not be 100% water proof, but I'm pretty sure it would be very water resistant.
They wouldn't comment... Give their media department a call, see what they have to say. I'm pretty sure that law of slashdotting phones states that "The delay of their response will be inversely equal to the intensity of incoming phone calls"
The on duty desk officer assured me that it did not happen today, it was a few days ago. The officer is employed there. And he also assured me that the facts as they were being presented were inaccurate.. However, you can call their media unit at (206) 684-5520 for more information.
...palm lifedrive... You mean this is a real product name? Does it get hairy with overuse?
Yes, if by hairy you mean occasional complete drive failure..
I have absolutely NO idea why palm thought it was a good idea to use a mechanical hdd rather than a solid state memory card, sometimes I really wonder about engineers.. sigh.. Fortuneately they did replace the unit's drive for free and within about a week...
I have a HP laptop, most of the newer laptops have card readers built in, so it's eaiser for me to just slap the card in that it is to mess with the wireless connection..
Still, neat idea overall, just not useful to me, might work with my palm lifedrive quite nicely though.... hmm..
Well, as a pseudo engineer, I can help shave the weight of the cable from this equation. Use several balloons. No cable. Send your camera-carrying balloon aloft on a not very windy day. When it has taken the photos you desire and is still within a reasonable distance, use a BB gun to shoot one of the balloons. It should return slowly back to earth without the need for a heavy cord or string.
I'm excited about this only because it means that blue laser diodes are about to get very inexpensive (previously the cheapest was about 3k) so as far as I go, I'm happy as hell about this.
To nomel's comment above about small scratches ruining it, I could see that being a problem, but why not simply resort to some sort of redundant data structure? Just a thought...
It's actually a common contest at NPPL & other competition events. The challenge is to consume (usually) 10 paintballs as quickly as possible. Yeah, they do taste like crap, but they're safe.
Well, there's an easy and cheap way to do this I've played around with, I've only used this to light up lightbulbs, and it's a bit dangerous, but it'll go alot further than 4 inches.
You'll need to get the magnetron out of a microwave (higher wattage is better, but danger increases with power) and build a wave guide horn for it, then simply point it at what you want to power, of course you might want to do something like build a faraday cage around the whole damn unit...
Enjoy, and please don't kill yourself or anyone else.
Just as a reminder, you cannot always feel damage being done by microwaves, they can penetrate deep into your body and destroy very important organs.. Be freaking careful if you actually decide to do this.
Why not just name him/her something really normal & short, maybe something like Ed, or maybe Joe, or Bob, if it's a girl Sue or Ann will do nicely, then simply covert the name into binary and you have a perfect solution for both the dad and the kid & mother, just teach the kid to write their name in binary and you're good to go.
Slashdot Mirror
It's actually very difficult to truly destroy data, especially remotely. There is actually a reason the DoD spec. requires physical destruction of the media.
Unless you have overwritten the area on the physical disk that contained the data, multiple times, the data can still be recovered.
The article doesn't lead me to believe that he's tried very hard to get this data back.. Maybe somebody (not me) who cares about this resource, should offer an attempt at data recovery.. Just be sure to hurry, before they do something that will ensure you cannot recover the data.
I've recovered data off of formatted HDD's, off of corrupted file systems, off of compact flash cards and other media (Really useful if you want to keep those photo's that someone thought was deleted, be aware of this people).
It's amazing how most people seem to think deleted means gone.
Talk about sleeping on the job... I didn't even post this in the right story...
Did you say something?
About right..
However, I wonder if the author has looked into writing books for academic purposes...
Anyone who has a degree knows just how much money is made on textbooks, and the frequency with which they are replaced and updated.
If I was a writer looking to make a living at it, especially in a vertical field, I would seriously consider writing university level textbooks.
Did you say something?
About right..
However, I wonder if the author has looked into writing books for academic purposes...
Anyone who has a degree knows just how much money is made on textbooks, and the frequency with which they are replaced and updated.
If I was a writer looking to make a living at it, especially in a vertical field, I would seriously consider writing university level textbooks.
Come on mods.... this was TRULY funny... I laughed in the middle of a meeting!
Is it bad that I'm somehow slightly pleased that I indirectly caused you to laugh in the middle of a meeting????
Crayons = wax. As a dad I can tell you when a crayon goes through the dryer it is carnage, so if your memory stick threat model includes going through the wash, I would avoid wax.
LOL- No kids.. Didn't think about the crayon factor..
Try alcohol rather than water for washing. It is best if you can get 100% alcohol which may be available from your drug store if you ask for it. It dries quickly and thoroughly with ease whereas water tends to hide and remain moist.
For this application, de-natured alcohol would be a fine product. You can find it at any home construction supply house, and it'll be much cheaper per volume unit than medical grade alcohol.
As an amateur diver, I do NOT recommend gluing your O-ring. These things lose their suppleness and crack, rendering them ineffective.
Make sure the groove is very smooth to prevent nicking the ring, insert the o-ring in it and lube the ring once in a while (once a year should be more than enough) with silicone grease.
As for Epoxy: it should do the job in a pinch, but I would recommend looking at some silicone gelly like Olympus uses for it's Tough cameras. More flexibility = less cracking = less possibility of water seeping to the board. Most USB keys get flexed often in pockets, etc.
Hey, I know it's overkill for a 10$ trinket, but if you gotta do it, you gotta do it in style.
Honestly, at some level, wax would really do just fine too... Easier to work with, and could actually serve as the 0-ring too... (just fill the cap and empty out the central area (so as to not wax up the connector.)
All you want is waterproof?
USB drives are super cool like that. (No moving parts!)
All you need is a little 2-part epoxy.
Take apart your flash drive (any!) and simply coat the green / black components with as much epoxy as you can stuff into it's exterior shell..
Now, the cap, buy a thin o-ring from your local hardware store, using a knife or dremel, cut a very narrow groove around the inside of your cap. Carefully use epoxy (sparingly here!) to secure the o-ring..
This might not be 100% water proof, but I'm pretty sure it would be very water resistant.
-Cheers,
Cory!
Not necessarily more accurate, just more, use it to decide for yourself what's true.
Nope.. Just ref'd me to their media department.
They wouldn't comment... Give their media department a call, see what they have to say. I'm pretty sure that law of slashdotting phones states that "The delay of their response will be inversely equal to the intensity of incoming phone calls"
It looks more like being arrested for mouthing off to the cops. Tact not a strong point?
Maybe, maybe not... Yet, it's still not illegal to be a jerk. You CAN commit crimes WHILE being a jerk, but being a jerk simply isn't a crime.
....Unless the US is in a state of declared war. Then you cannot photograph any military or government facilities or installations.
The on duty desk officer assured me that it did not happen today, it was a few days ago. The officer is employed there. And he also assured me that the facts as they were being presented were inaccurate.. However, you can call their media unit at (206) 684-5520 for more information.
By the way, they're getting slashdotted!
...palm lifedrive...
You mean this is a real product name? Does it get hairy with overuse?
Yes, if by hairy you mean occasional complete drive failure..
I have absolutely NO idea why palm thought it was a good idea to use a mechanical hdd rather than a solid state memory card, sometimes I really wonder about engineers.. sigh.. Fortuneately they did replace the unit's drive for free and within about a week...
Good story about wireless power x-fer done by MIT the other day on /.
Maybe, just maybe..
I have a HP laptop, most of the newer laptops have card readers built in, so it's eaiser for me to just slap the card in that it is to mess with the wireless connection..
Still, neat idea overall, just not useful to me, might work with my palm lifedrive quite nicely though.... hmm..
Well, as a pseudo engineer, I can help shave the weight of the cable from this equation. Use several balloons. No cable. Send your camera-carrying balloon aloft on a not very windy day. When it has taken the photos you desire and is still within a reasonable distance, use a BB gun to shoot one of the balloons. It should return slowly back to earth without the need for a heavy cord or string.
Two words:
Murphy's Law
Seriously, shouldn't this thing have an FCC ID on it??
I'm excited about this only because it means that blue laser diodes are about to get very inexpensive (previously the cheapest was about 3k) so as far as I go, I'm happy as hell about this.
To nomel's comment above about small scratches ruining it, I could see that being a problem, but why not simply resort to some sort of redundant data structure? Just a thought...
It's actually a common contest at NPPL & other competition events. The challenge is to consume (usually) 10 paintballs as quickly as possible. Yeah, they do taste like crap, but they're safe.
And is used as a major component of both cough syrup and paintballs...
Not the first time I've been accused of that...
However I digress, you can do this safely, it simply requires knowledge of microwave radation and exactly what you can and cannot do safely.
Now I'm gonna go press my head against the front of my microwave and watch some food cook for a while.
Well, there's an easy and cheap way to do this I've played around with, I've only used this to light up lightbulbs, and it's a bit dangerous, but it'll go alot further than 4 inches.
You'll need to get the magnetron out of a microwave (higher wattage is better, but danger increases with power) and build a wave guide horn for it, then simply point it at what you want to power, of course you might want to do something like build a faraday cage around the whole damn unit...
Enjoy, and please don't kill yourself or anyone else.
Just as a reminder, you cannot always feel damage being done by microwaves, they can penetrate deep into your body and destroy very important organs.. Be freaking careful if you actually decide to do this.
Why not just name him/her something really normal & short, maybe something like Ed, or maybe Joe, or Bob, if it's a girl Sue or Ann will do nicely, then simply covert the name into binary and you have a perfect solution for both the dad and the kid & mother, just teach the kid to write their name in binary and you're good to go.