Re: SUMMARY: Not-so-volatile volatile memory

[alt@iquest.net (Al Thompson)]

At 11:54 AM 9/5/95 +0200, Anonymous wrote:
>
>Is this a new discovery?  When I used to work with DOD classified
>data, not so long ago, disk drives had to be declassified using an
>approved program, such as Norton Utilities' "WIPEINFO".  (That was
>approved up through the SECRET/SAR level, anyway.  I don't know
>about TS/SCI/SI.)  But those same regulations said that RAM was
>considered declassified within a certain time (30 seconds, I think)
>after power was removed.  (That time figure was UNclassified, BTW.)
>I think it was just to allow time for the voltage to bleed off of
>the power supply's filter capacitors, and not related to the
>relative volatility of DRAM.
  
I worked at a DoD contractor for a while, and there was a DoD-approved 
method of disposing of hard drives, which was expensive, laborious,
and rather silly.
 
We just had two witnesses watch as we smashed it to smithereens 
(technical term) with a sledge hammer, and then handed the parts over
to an approved disposal person (trash man).
 
It's JUST that easy.