About these solid state hard drives PHOTOS!!!! Now With

[silversaddle1]

As I am finishing up the tear down of the 8000 pound EMC Mass storage unit I have been taking apart a bunch of these 250 gb solid state drives. They are like a thumb drive on steroids. Have any of you guys scrapped any of them? I'm unsure of what the buyers would grade the boards that come out of these drives. I'm guessing they would go as some type of memory but unsure of that. May be able to post pics but main computer is down and this one I'm using now is a random laptop pulled from the scrap pile. Don't know if my card reader will work on it yet.

Scott

Photos added so all members can see what we are talking about and learn what to look for.

 

[patnor1011]

From what I have seen they do contain BGA IC and quite a lot of them. That should be classed as higher grade than usual motherboard perhaps close to or on a par with RAM. Picture would be nice and it is a shame you have to tear them down but that is the way customer want to have it so nothing you can do about it I guess.

 

[alexxx]

Why scrapping those ssd.
They worth a fortune even dead..

 

[silversaddle1]

I have a destuction order on them. Customer wants them destroyed, that's what we do. I don't like it either, but that's just they way it has to be.

 

[Yggdrasil]

They can't be much more destroyed than reclaimed and refined can they? :lol:
Do the customer specify which way they are destroyed and the time frame?

Why scrapping those ssd.
They worth a fortune even dead..

Anyone know what they can be used for, if dead?
Can they be refurbished?

 

[canedane]

Hi Scoot.
Is the circiut board undamedged? Is the weight about 30 g?
I sell these undamedged boards for 14 euro/kg .
I seperate the box, the cast aluminiun cost 0,97 euro/kg, the electric drive 0,40 euro/kg.
The braclets containt a very high procent nickel and e few procent copper,i dont know the price.
I collect the neodymium, in a few years i ekspect they are doubled in price.
I is a big work, but i do it in my home in the dark hours.
Henrik

ps, i have a lot of trouble to send this, i have to spell "procent" the sign isent possible to send

 

[anachronism]

Good post. However they are worth a lot more.

Silver you can dismantle the drives so you fulfil your obligations and sell the ram cards to a chip harvester who will reuse the BGA chips in other applications. If the chips are the right ones, they are worth a lot of money.

Jon

 

[g_axelsson]

Reselling the memory cards with flash memories is potentially a security risk. The chips retain the information that was written on then when in use and is easily recovered. For a spinning disk the platters have to be destroyed to make the information inaccessible, in the same way the memory chips have to be destroyed to destroy the content.
Certified data destruction can be quite lucrative and I wouldn't risk my business model by selling off working chips.

Göran

 

[silversaddle1]

These drives were over written twice before the unit was shut down. Even so, the customer wants the drives destroyed. So be it.

 

[patnor1011]

Destroy them IC by incineration followed by water wash, I would drop rest to Nitric just to be sure and then melt remaining shiny metal wires. All info should be safely erased at this stage.

 

[anachronism]

Reselling the memory cards with flash memories is potentially a security risk. The chips retain the information that was written on then when in use and is easily recovered. For a spinning disk the platters have to be destroyed to make the information inaccessible, in the same way the memory chips have to be destroyed to destroy the content.
Certified data destruction can be quite lucrative and I wouldn't risk my business model by selling off working chips.

Göran

Apologies Goran but in this you are incorrect. Once the CESG overwrite patterns have been completed the client data does not remain either on flash or platter media. As an aside there were issues performing data destruction on SSD media when it originally came out however this has been dealt with. Couple this with removing the control circuitry and all you have is a bunch of (wiped) chips on a card.

Incidentally both Scott and I work in this arena and if Scott prefers to shred them then I fully support his professional judgement.

Jon

 

[g_axelsson]

I don't think I was wrong, we were talking about dead drives among others and reselling them for parts. There is no way to overwrite the data on a dead drive. There is also human error to take into consideration... let's see, did I overwrite this disk or not? If the chips are destroyed there is no question, but you can't look at the outside of a disk to see if it's been overwritten.

I do agree that overwriting the data is enough by all practical means. Just as with spinning disks.

But if the customer wants physical destruction that is what he should get.

I've been working from the other side of the table, both in the military and in private companies involved in computer security, although it's been a couple of years now. But computer security is a field that I'm interested in and casually keeping up at speed with.

Göran

 

[silversaddle1]

I would say nobody is wrong in the discussion. Yes, the drives are wiped clean. This unit came from a huge bank and trust me, they would not have let 1800+ drives go out the door without some assurance they were clean. But, with that said, they still want everything destroyed as a extra layer of security. I hate doing it. It's hard to destroy 1 terrabite hard drives, 250 gb SSD's as I know they could be resold and re used. But in the end, you keep your customer happy so you get more equipment in the future.

Did I ever post any photos of this beast?

 

[g_axelsson]

Pictures or it never happened! :mrgreen:

Göran

 

[anachronism]

Of what ya nutter?

Edit Ahh that unit!! Yes Scott did post pics up. I cried.....

 

[anachronism]

I don't think I was wrong, we were talking about dead drives among others and reselling them for parts. There is no way to overwrite the data on a dead drive.

That's what degaussing is for.

There is also human error to take into consideration... let's see, did I overwrite this disk or not? If the chips are destroyed there is no question, but you can't look at the outside of a disk to see if it's been overwritten.

That's what formal processes are for. If there's ever any doubt they go back through the process again.

I do agree that overwriting the data is enough by all practical means. Just as with spinning disks.

But if the customer wants physical destruction that is what he should get.

Yes, however we have clients whose definition of physical destruction is dismantling, whilst other demand shredding to varying degrees.

I've been working from the other side of the table, both in the military and in private companies involved in computer security, although it's been a couple of years now. But computer security is a field that I'm interested in and casually keeping up at speed with.

I can't afford to be casual about it, and neither can Scott. We err on the side of caution rather than take a risk.

Göran

 

[alexxx]

I have a destuction order on them. Customer wants them destroyed, that's what we do. I don't like it either, but that's just they way it has to be.

You should try realy hard to convince your client to only destroy the data. Not the physical drive. Finding the right softwares and procedure is a must. Even spending 20 hours to pitch your client in this case is worth it.

Every time you make 1$ out of these drives you are missing between 50$ to 75$ easily...

My2c

 

[anachronism]

I have a destuction order on them. Customer wants them destroyed, that's what we do. I don't like it either, but that's just they way it has to be.

You should try realy hard to convince your client to only destroy the data. Not the physical drive. Finding the right softwares and procedure is a must. Even spending 20 hours to pitch your client in this case is worth it.

Every time you make 1$ out of these drives you are missing between 50$ to 75$ easily...

My2c

Some clients wont budge Alexxx but you know that already I'm sure I've got 8,000 2 year old PCs coming in during January worth over $200 each resale and I have to rip them apart and show the client the "waste." Utterly shameful but the client rules.

 

[nickvc]

For some clients the need for full destruction is obvious and I have to say do not get tempted to cheat, I know of one old company, now, who tried and lost everything trying to make a few thousand bucks more, they had some experimental chips and sold them into the market, the client who I won't name bankrupted them with governmental help :shock:
Some companies need to be sure they have the final word and have the clout to ensure they do frequently with the help of government agencies, for a few thousand dollars or even a few hundred thousand it's not worth it!

 

[anachronism]

You're right Nick. I fully respect Scott's position on this because it's simply not worth it for a few extra bucks.