Need to 'break'my PDA . . . . .

MehulLakhani

MehulLakhani

MehulLakhani

Associate
Joined
12 Jan 2003
Posts
1,210
Location
Watford
Hey guys

I have an HP Ipaq 2210 loaned to me as part of a research contract. The research contract finishes soon.

Over the last year or two, I have managed to accumulate a lot of very sensitive files on the Ipaq. I have tried very hard to delete them, but I am afraid that it will be easy to recover them using some sort of undelete utility - and one of my IT-savvy friends managed to do just this over the weekend.

I wouldnt mind, but I have to pass the machine on to the next person in the team - and I DEFINITLEY dont want him to get hold of any of these files; he is a bit of an IT whizz, so there is a strong chance that he will be able to recover them somehow.

Thus, what I would like to do is 'break' the machine somehow, so that it doesnt turn on, and that way when I give it back, they have to get it replaced/send it back to the lease company etc etc before my colleague gets hold of it. Only thing is I dont want their to be any physical damage to the machine, otherwise it will raise suspicions.

I know this sounds really underhand, but it is very important.

Any ideas ? Zap the machine with high-voltage ?

R

Mehul
 
Perplexed said:
Accidently drop it in the bath, followed by the toaster.
Click to expand...

How would you accidently put it in the toas.... oh I see.

Why not just try and short something in it, or apply steady pressure over the whole screen to knacker the display? You have to make it look unsuspect. Cutting it in half just won't do...

EDIT: Does it have a removable battery? If so, bung a car battery of voltage through the terminals (of the PDA, not the battery). If not, use the charging terminals.
 
Yea, filling the memory to capacity with non sensitive/random/junk files was what came to mind for me too.
That'll ensure the actual data is written over rather than merely any pointer type things to them.
 
Delete all files, fill with rubbish files, delete all files, fill with more rubbish, and repeat until bored or secure.

As mentioned, otherwise drop it in a bowl of salt water, that would almost definately wreck it.
 
About deleting the files, filling with junk, rinse and repeat...

Isn't that what many of these super delete shredder programs (I can't remember what they're called) do? i.e delete and then scrub over with random data etc?

I think some discrete shorting or something like that, as has been suggested, might be okay.
 
The memory on those kinda things is very secure... simply dropping it in some water probably wouldn't fry it... and if they decided to attempt to repair it the data would still be there.

Your best bet is the "overwrite with junk" that has already been suggested :)
 
Do a google for data wipeing for PDAs youl find somethin that will sort you out i know there are plenty of programs for pcs that will do that kind of thing.
 
Bellboy said:
Nudie pictures of his wife :p
Click to expand...

hehe, couldn't help laughing. Why don't you accidently leave it somewhere where the baby/dog could be in easy reach of it? Or you were having a relaxing bath enjoying the internet on your PDA when you dropped it in the bath :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom