[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How does one destroy a harddrive ? (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 6/2/2012 8:42:30 AM EDT
|
Finally got rid of my 8 year old computer I yanked the hard drive and gave the rest for recycling It has all my financial info and such and would prefer not to toss it in the trash as is what should I do with it that's quick and easy might just shoot it with a shotgun Done  |
|
you can take it apart and hit the platters with an angle grinder
put it in a metal chipper / grinder shoot it with a lot of 00 buck bandsaw and cut it up into lots of little pieces you basically just need to destroy the platters. oh and if youre really paranoid, dispose the pieces multiple places |
| I have to prep hard drives for destruction regularly. We open them up and pull the platters, they are then degaussed and put in a shredder. Some platters are aluminum and some are glass (although it's been a while since I have run across any glass ones). The aluminum ones can be melted quite easily, the glass ones crush up nicely. |
|
Quoted: Whack it a bunch of times with a hammer. It's easy to destroy it to the point where only a real pro could get at the data. this hell ripping off the pcb board will pretty much guarantee that no one will use it again. yeah if you have a dedicated thief he can replace it with the same one and such but really who has need of that much persec? also i would think a tub of salt water would do nicely as well. |
|
Quoted:
Use a drill press to run four 3/4" holes into and through the thing. We've got a hard drive eraser at work that meets DoD standards ... there's a drawer that holds the hard drive, a big bank of capacitors, and a warning sign cautioning pace maker wearers! this should be the best quick "fix" who in their right mind will try and salvage any info off that drive after this is done? well, yeah, the usgubmint will, but you need to have a dog they can shoot first and live down the street from a drug dealer so they can no-knock on the wrong house first. 
|
|
If it is a decent enough drive, you could always get an enclosure for it and use it as a backup external drive. I have a 500gb sitting around for that reason...
Macally HD Enclosure |
|
Quoted:
I threw mine in my fire pit while roasting marshmallows and drinking beer... No good... I cracked open a hard drive I burned in a fire... Storage platters looked just as good as the day the drive was made.... Until of course I took them out and smashed them with a hammer. I've destroyed my share of hard drives and here are some ways I do it.... hammer - Good, fairly quick result but takes multiple hits before the storage platters come loose.. Also- when using a hammer, make sure to bend the storage platters.. Fire - don't bother. Destroys the electronics on the outside of the hard drive but doesn't do anything to the storage platters. Oxy / acetylene torch - good, quick result but good GOD wear a 3M filter mask when doing it this way!!! Welder (other than a TIG welder) - exactly the same as the torch cutting deal.. Make SURE you wear a mask and burn some welding rods thru the storage platters! Drill - not really tried that option but once.. Effective but still doesn't 100% guarantee information destruction within the storage platters Chop saw - Don't bother.. You will destroy the saw before you destroy the drive.
12 ton press... Good, quick result.. Bends the hard drive really good if you prop one end of the drive on something solid such as another piece of metal or a press plate.. Make sure to use the press on the motor / storage platter area.. This will literally wrinkle the storage platters beyond use.. ***I highly suggest using a press.. It works quite well  . ***
Axe - good, fast result and can bend the hard drive if you lay the drive sideways against something hard and chop into it Shooting - hell yeah! Good result and fun! But make sure the storage platters come out... Get the storage platters and bend them in every way imaginable with a hammer afterwords.. "heat treating" the storage platters - Remove the storage platters from the hard drive, heat them up with a mapp gas torch until they turn red or orange and dunk them in cold water.. This causes the metal to suddenly harden up and make any data on the drive un-recoverable. Melting - You could find someone who has a homemade metal forge that can melt aluminum or cast metal.. Pitch the hard drive in the forge and it will melt almost completely away.. The only thing that doesn't melt is the metal back plate.. I am sure I can think of more 
|
|
all that pr0n, gone in seconds thats ok, they'll make more 
|
| Should have just booted the computer up with DBAN before disassembling everything. Could still stick the drive in another machine and do the same. Then sell it, save it, or put it in a USB enclosure as an external backup drive. Or, just put the drive in your current computer as a spare. |
