Never Leave Your USB Drive Behind Again With USB Alert

Everyone knows the horror of looking for it when you need it only to realize that you left it behind plugged into the last computer you used.
With USB Alert, you'll get a warning when you shut down to unplug your USB drive before you go.

USB Alert will play a warning sound and display an on-screen alert every time you issue a shutdown or lock command warning you that you have a USB storage device still connected to the system. From there you can see your connected devices or dismiss the alert – but the warning makes all the difference.

Download USB Alert


How do you make sure you don't leave your drives behind when it's time to leave the office for the day?
Leave your tips in the comments.

How to Dismantle and Destroy a Hard Drive

There are a ton of reasons why you might want to physically destroy a hard drive rather than use disk wiping software:

higher confidence that the data is destroyed, a recourse if your drive has failed and no longer accessible, and sheer fun.

If the thermite method and other extreme physical disposal methods aren't for you, dismantling the drive to get to the platters is an alternative method.

The main process involves removing the screws around the outside of the drive, pulling out the screws holding the electronics, and then popping the cover off.

After removing the magnets, you can get to the platters, the heart of your hard drive.

First run the magnets over the platters to degauss them. Because that's not a guarantee that the data is unrecoverable, you should then physically destroy the platters, bend them or break them with a hammer or saw them into pieces.

And that will be the end of those discs and the data on them.

The video below shows how Google use a disk crushers and the destruction of old hard drives to prevent leakage of customer data.