# Reading up on these solid state drives....



## silversaddle1 (Dec 17, 2016)

Well I guess I had better rethink about how to dispose of these SSD boards. From what I have read it can prove difficult to erase or overwrite these 100 percent. That can be a problem as there is no way of knowing if any data is still stored on any of the chips. Some of the sources state that the only way to be 100 percent sure is to shred the boards. Well that in itself poses another problem as now once you shred them, the board buyers will tend to shy away from them. I'm already missing mechanical drives!


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## patnor1011 (Dec 18, 2016)

Would the client object if you depopulate boards and shred separately? I mean shred boards in one pile and IC on another go. Shredded IC can still be sold.


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## shmandi (Dec 18, 2016)

I don't think that shredding boards is needed after depopulation.


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## kurtak (Dec 18, 2016)

Scott

Call Dynamic - talk to them - I am sure those boards will go for at the very least "high grade" telecom $4.60/lb & quite possibly as hard drive boards $7.70/lb

Tell them that you need to show your customer that they have been "physically" destroyed (shredded) Dynamic will provide you with documentation that they shredded them per customers request

Unless they have recently changed it - their minimum in order to get their full listed price for boards is 2,000 pounds of material - that 2,000 can be a mix of material ranging from low grade stuff like AC adapters, power supplies, mixed computer wire, Li-ion batteries (NOT the little disc batteries) etc. etc. to high grade boards & everything in between

So if you can put a 2,000 pound load (or more) together for them - box the drive boards & "clearly" mark it with "MUST SHRED & Provide Destruction Documentation" I an sure they will be able to fulfill your needs - which is top dollar for the boards AND physical distruction documentation

On scrap they pay out 2 weeks after they receive material - on resale items they pay out 4 weeks after receiving --- if you send scrap & resale together in the same load you have to wait the 4 weeks for payment

I know you like to deliver - get paid & leave --- the reason Dynamic doesn't pay on delivery is - you think you are a larger handler - Dynamic is HUGE - they get in semi trucks of material "every" day including government contracts & major corporation contracts (hence the "proof" of destruction thing) so there is no why they can unload you - go through your load & pay you out on the day of delivery

I have never had a problem being paid for what I delivered & having to wait 2 weeks on scrap or 4 weeks on resale is not a problem for me - I wont go hungry in that time - the wait is worth their payout rates IMO

Kurt


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## jason_recliner (Dec 18, 2016)

Silversaddle,

One more thing perhaps worth your reading, if you've not already, is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_(computing).

Disclaimer: I am not in the data shredding service, though I know someone who is. He has a van and he picks up locked bins of paper. (Actually he's an old data recovery customer which is slightly relevant here. His primary HDD failed and I managed to reclaim his most important docs by using another drive of the same common SG model of which I happened to have another on hand.)

Now, I consider that the term "shredding" is actually open to a little interpretation. It's generally considered synonymous with data destruction, only... it just isn't. For example if one were shredding printed documents, the information is not erased from the paper, but at the very least they are cut into thin strips. We all know this is merely a time consuming jigsaw puzzle (as exemplified in "Better Call Saul"). The later cross cutting technique multiplies the difficulty by the inverse of the strip width. Difficult. But the information is still printed for all to see. Even a certified shredding does not destroy the data. It merely obfuscates and jumbles it beyond reasonable recovery efforts.

Yes? With me? It's not impossible. It's just very, very improbable. Now, let's translate that to SSDs.

If you simply file-erased an SSD and called it done, you should be slapped. Twice. From each side. But if you also have TRIMed it (see above), there's only a very small but hypothetical chance of recovering a few blocks of data that had been reallocated, as per previous thread. Now, I have performed successful data recovery on broken and/or formatted HDDs for years but I've still no idea how I'd get any real world data off a TRIMed SSD. Maybe there are people who can. Good luck, but I am actually able to talk to girls.

So, if one had stripped the chips off multiple boards that had been erased, one would have created quite a puzzle. Because to recover anything, each stripped chip must be resoldered into its original and right location. A difficult but very achievable task for a single chip stripped by a chisel. But more than one and it becomes "Mastermind" to the power of the number of chips involved. And a single wrong guess may (or may not) be the end of it on powerup. Throw it into a two thousand pound "bucket o' chip" and that's a jigsaw of unimaginably monumental proportions. A crack with a hammer would make recovery even more unlikely - if such a thing were possible.

Now, if you knock the chips off and pyrolyse them, I think I could safely consider that you not only have bundles of 9's in your guarantee, but a pretty decent precious metals recovery source to boot.

But that's just one man's opinion, so take it accordingly. Sorry to ramble, I just find this all fascinating.


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