
Hard Disk Hacking (2013) - jacquesm
http://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack&page=1
======
barbs
Sprites is someone that I feel truly epitomises the original hacking spirit.
His ability to understand the inner-workings of a large variety of things,
strip them down to their bare elements and combine them in different ways to
make something new is nothing short of impressive.

His hacks section is very entertaining
([https://spritesmods.com/?art=hardware](https://spritesmods.com/?art=hardware)).
My favourites are his Minecraft portal and his automatic jello-shot printer
made from old CD-ROM parts.

~~~
jacquesm
What is interesting to me and why I posted it is that his intuition about how
things _might_ work tends to correlate highly with how they actually work even
if at that point in time during the narrative I'd have absolutely no clue
about what he comes up with. That's a very deep level of insight.

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peter_d_sherman
In the comments section of the last page:

[http://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack&page=8](http://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack&page=8)

Poster "tr1ck5t3r" wrote at 15 Jan 2017, 15.46:

>"BadBios, BadUSB, Stuxnet, Flame, Duqu, Shamoon, are all different names
given to the observations by experts of the same suite of malware that has
evolved over the years."

That is the hypothesis my research into this subject also supports, although
it is purely an intuitive hypothesis, not an empirical one, that is, at this
point in time, I do not have concrete proof to back this intuition...

But tr1ck5t3r's comment is a very interesting comment, nonetheless...

~~~
throwawayway9
Thanks for pointing that out, now I want to read the rest of the comments to
look for other gems but it's just too long.

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hazeii
Here's an alternative take on HDD hacking:-

[http://hazeii.net/images/2006/hddlaser.jpg](http://hazeii.net/images/2006/hddlaser.jpg)

Laser projector made by hacksawing 2 hard disks in half, sticking chopped up
bits of platter (as mirrors) to the head assembly and bolting in a laser
pointer. Works well enough to draw a digital clock display on the wall.

~~~
xtiansimon
> "Works well enough to draw a digital clock display on the wall."

That, I'd like to see (video).

~~~
hazeii
Been meaning to write the project up for almost 15 years now, cameras have
moved on so will send a notification once I grab a video (don't hold your
breath :)).

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dang
If curious see also

2014
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6148347](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6148347)

2015 (a bit)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9425328](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9425328)

2016 (a bit)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12219599](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12219599)

~~~
kobbyhack
hello dang i want to have a private chat with you

~~~
dang
Anyone can contact me at hn@ycombinator.com.

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annoyingguy
I saw your talk at OHM, we were the guys that showed up with a crate of beer
there. It was one of the best talks on the whole party, and i mentioned it to
a ton of people in retrospect of the party. Keep up your amazing work, this
deserves to be upvoted. Are you Dutch? Let me know if you are ever around
amsterdam.

~~~
shifto
SpriteTM is a Dutch guy indeed. He currently lives in China working for
Espressif though. He's been a member of a Dutch online tech community for
years and years (and to be honest we mis him there!).

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KuroSaru
I pretty sure the author passed away from what I remember. I can confirm that
the pinout, memory structure he shows remains true for current WD HDD drives
still.

~~~
jacquesm
I don't think that is true:

[https://twitter.com/SpritesMods](https://twitter.com/SpritesMods)

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bheemeshgk
I want hack my phone. Because it is broken

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bheemeshgk
I want hack my phone

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raghvavsgk
I want hack my phone

