Emp

[The web master]

Hello guys what's up??? Couls anyone tell me how to find small emp devices for experimental use with small devices like PCs??????

 

[Papabravo]

To generate an EMP, an Electro-magnetic pulse, requires a nuclear detonation. You can't seriously be considering building such a device, so I conclude that you must be talking about something else.

 

[Hero999]

What you're doing it also most likely illegal so I wouldn't help you, even if there was a simple way.

 

[The web master]

Well about the emp you were right. I search and found that it really needs a nuclear detonation. I didn't mean something like this. I just read about some devices place on hard drives for example and when you detonate them they can delete the data placed on your harddrve!!!

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Just drop the HD from a decent height while running, that'll delete the data in a hurry.

 

[ericgibbs]

Well about the emp you were right. I search and found that it really needs a nuclear detonation. I didn't mean something like this. I just read about some devices place on hard drives for example and when you detonate them they can delete the data placed on your harddrve!!!

There is a EMP test facility in the USA, military of course!
Recent TV documentary showing it in action, its a high tower and it uses a massive electromagnet.

If you are concerned about someone reading the data on an old disk, the only sure way is to remove and detroy the platters.

 

[Papabravo]

I thought there were effective algorithmic scrubbing procedures that would prevent the data from being recovered even by the forensic guys. How could you ever be sure unless you were willing to put the process to the test. If the data was that sensitive then physically destroying the platters is the only way to be sure. I would melt them down in a high temperature oven and render them into billets. Then I would cold roll them into flat sheets, and cut them up into small pieces with tin snips.

 

[Papabravo]

...
Recent TV documentary showing it in action, its a high tower and it uses a massive electromagnet.
...

A time varying magnetic field will certainly create an electric field and vice versa. I thought that part of the problem with the EMP from a nuclear detonation was the flux of charged particles and gamma rays.

 

[ericgibbs]

A time varying magnetic field will certainly create an electric field and vice versa. I thought that part of the problem with the EMP from a nuclear detonation was the flux of charged particles and gamma rays.

hi,
It was one of those programs showing new technology, IIRC 'Future Weapons'.

They obviously didn't disclose to much detail, but they do use it to check out their electronic device hardening against 'real' nuclear EMP blasts.

So, I expect it must mimic the real thing.

 

[DigiTan]

I've heard of laboratories using explosively-compressed coils to generate multi-MegaGuass fields. That's was over x20 stronger than an MRI. Before the cold war ended, both the US and Soviet programs had hopes for using it in directed energy.

If you're looking for an eraser, you can put together a Helmholz coil or something similar to erase drives at very close distances. Or even try a coilgun. It really depends on the materials you have.

 

[picbits]

Use your old hard drive to build a hard drive clock.

Chances are that when you've finished with it, the chance of getting any more data back off it are virtually zero lol.

If you really want to make sure the data is gone then hop over to Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com and grab a hard drive eraser program - you can set them for multiple pattern writes so even residual magnetism on the drive is hard to detect.

 

[arhi]

There are many app's on the market, some free, some commercial, that will erase data on the hdd using the pattern change algo that will remove any residual magnetism and effectively stop anyone from reading the content. Problem is, takes hours to delete a big HDD. The simple few hundred meg file takes dozenth of minutes.

The "quick eraser" is the effective and speedy way of doing the same thing. The problem is that it will remove WHOLE hdd, you cannot selectively delete "part" of the hdd, nor you can select hdd if few of them are near each other. It works by creating strong magnetic field. You can purchase "quick eraser", 110/220V AC powered or 12/24V powered in huge number of stores (especially in stores specialized for storage media's as those erasers were used quite a lot with old tape medium).

You can also create it your self. Even better, I saw "handmade" solution once as a part of security system. Make a cardboard shell around your HDD, then wind wire around it, few tens of thousand winds. Connect that wire to main power (AC 110/220V) trough relay. Control relay from external control box. When main power start flowing trough windings around the HDD takes few seconds before HDD is irrecoverably deleted. Now, there is many things that can go wrong here, too few windings and you will just short the main power so fuze will blow and you might even start a fire.. the magnetic field is quite strong so it might affect other media in the room.

Now, I just saw this from distance, there might be more to this, maybe there is a bridge rectifier on the input so there is actually 380V DC going trough the windings, some resistor might be there to limit the current ... what I remember is that guy who made it told me that he used the same principle CRT degauss works, so one can google for CRT degauss and find the actual schematic

Anyhow, the eraser works tried/tested few times, not even the magnetic microscope is able to read data from the HDD after that. Check out the specialized "storage" stores, you can get specialized HDD cases that protect HDD from external magnetic interference, you can get cases with built in eraser, you can get almost anything you can think of, crazy world out there so many "strange" people around wanting strange things hence there is a whole techno coverage of that segment.