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Erasing 18 old 100MB Zip Disks? — Parallax Forums

Erasing 18 old 100MB Zip Disks?

xanatosxanatos Posts: 1,120
edited 2014-07-01 09:43 in General Discussion
I have a stack of 18 old iomega 100MB Zip Disks that I want to sell on ebay (unless someone on here wants 'em!) but I want to erase the living he** out of them first - they've got client passwords, account info, etc., on them.

I do not have a way of erasing them on any system I own now.

Is there an easy, failsafe way, other than physically destroying them - to completely erase them and make them usable/sale-able with confidence that none of the data could be read unless the NSA wants them :) ???

I also have an external Zip Drive that uses a PCM/CIA card port... which, of course, none of my systems support any more...

Thanks for the info,

Dave

Comments

  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2014-06-29 15:33
    That Zip drive, does it have a parallel port or a SCSI port?

    The only way to really erasing them is to run a proper erasing utility that overwrites each sector with random patterns several times.
    (5 is generally more than enough. Being able to 'lift' data from a disk that has been overwritten more than one is really a myth. )

    Are they really valuable enough that people will pay enough for them to cover your expenses to erase them?
  • xanatosxanatos Posts: 1,120
    edited 2014-06-29 15:40
    It has neither - it uses a PCM/CIA card slot.

    I'm looking for bulk erasure... like, if I plant them on top of a fat transformer for a few hours, will that do it? :)

    I have no way to actually erase them using a utility. Gotta be bulk erasure.

    All 18 plus the drive I figure might net me $30. Not so much about the $$ as I just think it'd be a shame to let them rot in a landfill. They do sell on ebay, so I know there are some folks who still use them, for what reason I can't fathom, but... :)

    Dave
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2014-06-29 15:56
    Dave,

    They are still useful for some older audio gear.For instance, I have a Roland G-1000 keyboard that uses them:

    http://www.rolandus.com/products/details/439

    Plus some older samplers.

    I have an IDE zip drive that I will dig out. I have needed to copy some of the Roland samples to my hard drive. Once I do that I will send you the drive. Standard IDE so should be Plug-N-Play.

    Jim
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2014-06-29 15:59
    I also have a bunch of 1GB Jazz drives.

    Maybe I should send them to Steve, (jazzed). :)
  • xanatosxanatos Posts: 1,120
    edited 2014-06-29 16:03
    Publison wrote: »
    ... Once I do that I will send you the drive. Standard IDE so should be Plug-N-Play...

    Jim

    Cool! But... I have only laptops & tablets - not sure IDE will work, isn't IDE a slot configuration for a standard tower-style motherboard?

    You can use these things then, I'm guessing?

    Dave
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2014-06-29 16:06
    I have a Zip 100 drive with parallel port cable and power supply brick that still works fine. I think I have about 10 of the disks. I never would have guessed that they had any value or I would have put them on eBay years ago.
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2014-06-29 16:12
    xanatos wrote: »
    Cool! But... I have only laptops & tablets - not sure IDE will work, isn't IDE a slot configuration for a standard tower-style motherboard?

    You can use these things then, I'm guessing?

    Dave

    IDE as in old style Hard Drives.

    I only need 2. My original Roland disk and a backup before I sell the keyboard, so I'm good.

    BTW, you saw the BS2px are still on sale?

    http://www.parallax.com/product/bs2px24


    Jim
  • xanatosxanatos Posts: 1,120
    edited 2014-06-29 16:15
    Yeah, it's not that odd I guess, but I've found even old 2716 UV EPROMS sell. And Z80 stuff ( I have a Z80 board up there now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/251569708999?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649 ) - even old 8080A stuff sells. Not sure if it's nostalgia, or people with systems that have no replacement that require certain things... for example, I just recently replaced a massive plant-wide monitoring system whose developer went out of business back in the Windows 95 era, and their software wasn't compatible with newer operating systems, so they were STILL running a Win95 box... until last year anyway :) Either way, it's a good idea to never assume that old tech has no value. And also not to underestimate the value of nostalgia. ;)
  • xanatosxanatos Posts: 1,120
    edited 2014-06-29 16:18
    Publison wrote: »
    IDE as in old style Hard Drives.

    Probably nothing I can do with that...

    Publison wrote: »
    BTW, you saw the BS2px are still on sale?

    I did, thanks very much. I'm on a project that needs six of them!
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2014-06-29 16:19
    Yea, 2716's sell. Used in a lot of video games, but 2708's. Not so much. I have about 60 of them and no buyers. :(

    Jim
  • ajwardajward Posts: 1,130
    edited 2014-06-29 20:48
    xanatos wrote: »
    I have a stack of 18 old iomega 100MB Zip Disks that I want to sell on ebay (unless someone on here wants 'em!) but I want to erase the living he** out of them first - they've got client passwords, account info, etc., on them.

    I do not have a way of erasing them on any system I own now.

    Is there an easy, failsafe way, other than physically destroying them - to completely erase them and make them usable/sale-able with confidence that none of the data could be read unless the NSA wants them :) ???

    I also have an external Zip Drive that uses a PCM/CIA card port... which, of course, none of my systems support any more...

    Thanks for the info,

    Dave

    100MB Zip Disks?! Lol. I still use a few of those. Mostly for my Mac boxes and one old gaming PC. Not sure it would be cost effective to send ya one of those to erase them tho'. =:-|

    @
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2014-06-29 21:03
    Looks like they sell on eBay for about $2 to $3 each used. Now, if it were me I wouldn't consider it worth the trouble to erase/deep reformat these for that amount, considering what was on them.. As there are plenty of people selling new 100MB disks, I'd think the only people looking for used are those seeing if they can pull off "erased" data that could be worth more.

    These kinds of discs have a very high coercivity, making it a chore to bulk erase. You gotta go over them lots of time to really wipe them.
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2014-06-29 21:04
    PCMCIA<>PCI or PCMCIA<>PCI-E adapter are not uncommon on ebay...
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2014-06-29 21:44
    Write pseudorandom data until the disk is full a few times (or more depending).

    I usually drill a hole and recycle or use this fine utility - http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/

    This is essentially what you'd get recovering meta from overwriting with pseudorandom data once, can you read it?

    IMG_0097.JPG
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2014-06-29 21:48
    Yeah, Eraser is what I use to delete files. If I delete something, I want it gone.

    xanatos doesn't have access to a functioning Zip drive though.
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2014-06-29 21:59
    Sorry, missed the no drive part, physically destroying them seems like the best bet. If you don't have a drive you wouldn't be able to verify they're functional.
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2014-06-30 02:22
    The PCMCIA-based drive...
    It's really a SCSI-based drive. Hd50 connector, I think.

    So, a USB-SCSI adapter should work, if you can find one...

    I see you're using eBay's Global Shipping Program on that Z80 auction...
    you should be aware that a lot of international buyers(me included) doesn't like that, and will choose an other seller if he has a similar product.
    (eBay tends to collect MVA and customs fees even on goods that are not subject to that. Also, tracking is a pain in the ... for the buyer )

    I already have a heap of good/unused 100 and 250 Zip disks(and drives), so I'm not interested.
    (Maybe if it was a 750)
  • GenetixGenetix Posts: 1,754
    edited 2014-06-30 11:31
    I had a pile of Zip disks that I deleted all the files and then used the Shredder utility in Ccleaner. I used a USB drive but I also had several IDE drives.
  • xanatosxanatos Posts: 1,120
    edited 2014-06-30 14:06
    Xanadu, that process can easily be undone by the NSA. Even in text format, your graphic example's original text was "Propeller". ;)

    Thanks for the advice everyone. I just hate to see old tech go to the recycle bin. I'll just sell the old PCM-CIA zip drive and dump the disks after "hard coding" the erasure, ie., mangling the disk substrate :)

    Dave
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2014-06-30 14:19
    xanatos,

    Nah, why not just pull the data off and sell it like Google, Facebook and everyone else does ?

    Then those historical relics don't have to go into the land fill :)
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2014-06-30 14:30
    Gadgetman wrote: »
    The PCMCIA-based drive...
    It's really a SCSI-based drive. Hd50 connector, I think.

    I thought there were more than one kind of connector?

    I seem to recall using a parallel port connector on my Zip drive. The Jazz drive used a SCSI connector IIRC.
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2014-06-30 15:40
    xanatos wrote: »
    ... like, if I plant them on top of a fat transformer for a few hours, will that do it?

    Probably not. Any transformer worth it's salt will do a good job of minimizing magnetic fields outside the core.

    What you need is one of these:
    http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/radio_shac_realistic_bulk_tape_eras_2.html

    DJ
  • GenetixGenetix Posts: 1,754
    edited 2014-06-30 15:55
    There were SCSI Zip drives.
    http://www.iomega.com/zip/which_zip.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iomega_Zip_drive

    I had one Zip disk that went bad on me.
  • Don MDon M Posts: 1,652
    edited 2014-06-30 16:09
    I have a degaussing coil from back in the days of fixing crt color tv's...
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2014-07-01 00:01
    Duane Degn wrote: »
    I thought there were more than one kind of connector?

    I seem to recall using a parallel port connector on my Zip drive. The Jazz drive used a SCSI connector IIRC.

    Yes, there were more than one connector type on them.
    Parallel port (these were actually SCSI internally, and have a parallel-to-scsi adapter built-in)
    IDE
    SCSI
    USB

    The 'PCMCIA version' is a normal SCSI model with a short cable and a PCMCIA SCSI-adapter.

    And yes, the Jaz is SCSI. At least the two I have are...
    (All right, I collect stuff... )
  • Mark_TMark_T Posts: 1,981
    edited 2014-07-01 08:56
    Gadgetman wrote: »
    Being able to 'lift' data from a disk that has been overwritten more than one is really a myth. )
    No its not, particularly with removable discs. All it takes is for one drive to mis-align its head w.r.t. the original drive
    that wrote the disc and the edge of the track won't be reliably obliterated.

    I'm not saying its a reliable way to retrieve data, just that it can be done.

    The only way to reliably erase is bring the magnetic medium substantially above its Curie point,
    which can't be done for most media without cooking, warping or shattering them. The correct
    way to erase really sensitive data is grind-down or melt the platters. That works even against
    the NSA!

    Bulk erase won't come close, BTW.

    BTW all of this is moot if you don't have a threat-model...

    [Oh, one thing I forgot, modern spintronic read heads can be used to map the magnetism in 3D I believe
    for the ultimate in forensic recovery - the depth of penetration of write head flux can vary
    between drives... Again this is NSA territory really.]
  • Buck RogersBuck Rogers Posts: 2,187
    edited 2014-07-01 09:06
    xanatos wrote: »
    I have a stack of 18 old iomega 100MB Zip Disks that I want to sell on ebay (unless someone on here wants 'em!) but I want to erase the living he** out of them first - they've got client passwords, account info, etc., on them.

    I do not have a way of erasing them on any system I own now.

    Is there an easy, failsafe way, other than physically destroying them - to completely erase them and make them usable/sale-able with confidence that none of the data could be read unless the NSA wants them :) ???

    I also have an external Zip Drive that uses a PCM/CIA card port... which, of course, none of my systems support any more...

    Thanks for the info,

    Dave

    Hello!
    In actuality partner then yes I will take them. I still have a system here who uses them. I installed a zip drive on it for its first birthday, its a Dell, now its fifteen years old, and doing splendidly.

    The tools for older Windows, contain a deep format function, instead of 10 seconds format, its a 10 minute one. I sometimes use it when I'm transferring software from the batch I have to a different storage medium, and the disk then gets that long function format to start all over again.

    I now grok that these disks of yours contain very private information. Not a problem. PM me off list, and I'll explain the details. You can also include any electronics you have and do not need.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,257
    edited 2014-07-01 09:43
    Back before the turn of the millennium, I had a Sony StorStation, which used a Ditto 2GB tape for external storage. It was such a piece of useless Smile that when I finally gave up on it and tossed it in the garbage, I wiped a magnet across the tapes a few times and had no security concerns at all. It rarely worked properly when in pristine new condition. Anyone attempting to mine any info from that unreliable POS would be even more frustrated than me and give up before any of my "incredibly sensitive" data could be recovered.
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