Destroying hdd: software vs hardware

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jokawild
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Joined: 2010/08/28

Ok I've decided to conduct and experiment on data security. I have had many hdd that soon become obsolete and I get rid of them. As usual I did some research on ways to destroy data permanently and tried program after program. I've used dban which was a great open source software to completely rewrite data with 1/0 but it was slow. I then tried active eraser but after I tried r-studio data recovery I was able to recover some data, only like ~2% but 2% is a failure to me. Then I used wipe drive 3.0 which seems to be the best. It's DoD approved and has several write options and is faster than dban but its performance is still based on CPU, ram, mobo, and cd drive specs. I've thought about let's say an extreme case...fake of course lol...where the data on your hdd is sensitive and you need to permanently erase it in minutes not hours. What is the best way? I know having a Disk Degausser Wand would do the trick but how many of us can actually afford one. So here's my questions:

1) what is the most secure way to erase data
2) the is the fastest way
and finally
3) how to create a Disk Degausser Wand

And before any says just make an emp, I'm not trying to cross the fine line between destroying and jail time lol

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