How Do I Blow My Ex-Hard Drive?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How Do I Blow My Ex-Hard Drive?

Posted: 7/28/2001 12:04:14 PM EDT

I have an old windows computer (486) out in the garage taking up space.

I have quicken and other data on the hard drive, so I'm scared to dump it/give it away.

How can I cleanse, purge, scrub, delete, eliminate, make vanish, confound the NSA geeks, etc?

I don't need anything on there, so how do I nuke it?

I need to be certain.

Thanks

Posted: 7/28/2001 12:09:15 PM EDT

[#1]

Just erasing it doesn't really remove the data. Reormatting makes it harder. There are programs (probably for free on the net) that will write over the entire disc. First with all 1's, then with all 0's, then with random 1's & 0's. That sounds like what your after.

Or, a few rounds of .223 should make it pretty much unreadable.

Norm

Posted: 7/28/2001 12:12:19 PM EDT

[#2]

You can also take a strong magnet and swipe it across the hard drive several times. I've heard this will erase the data also.

Posted: 7/28/2001 12:13:52 PM EDT

[#3]

The magnet will work
cpermd

Posted: 7/28/2001 12:16:56 PM EDT

[#4]

There is no way to completely delet or make the info dissappear. Just remove the hard drive and use a 10LB. sledge hammer on it.

Posted: 7/28/2001 12:24:43 PM EDT

[#5]

Do all of the above, except the 10lb sledge.

Then take it to the nearest shooting spot and proceed to put a few hundred rounds of 5.56x45

I guarentee no one will read that hard disk ever again.

Posted: 7/28/2001 12:32:40 PM EDT

[#6]

Freeware utilities are available to overwrite the hard drive with garbage. BC Wipe used to be one of the best. Do a search for it, download, install, and run it. Formatting the hard drive doesn't overwrite most of the data on the disk. While I'm never tried it personally, a close friend accidentally formatted a drive and then used an undelete utility to get most of his data back. Physical damage is good but can be overcome. But the average person couldn't get past a format or physical damage.

Posted: 7/28/2001 12:44:18 PM EDT

[#7]

Do a low-level reformat and then use the magnet. This has - does - and will work. (Once-upon-a-while-ago I worked with this.....stuff.) After all that, vent your frustration with the sledge.
[:D]

Posted: 7/28/2001 12:44:54 PM EDT

[#8]

A nice little fire oughta do the trick.

Posted: 7/28/2001 1:27:05 PM EDT

[#9]

use bcwipe

it deletes the data then wipes it same thing the goverment uses on there hush hush data

Posted: 7/28/2001 2:04:26 PM EDT

[#10]

Actually If you just burn it the NSA types can still get the info off it from the ashes. To compleatly erase it follow these steps.

1. Disassemble hard drive.

2. Remove data disks

3. Have a nice little bonfire. (make sure they are completly burned)

4. Wet the ashes into a paste and stir it up.

With this process no information can ever be retrieved. Believe it or not that is what we do at work to prevent industrial espionage.

Posted: 7/28/2001 2:05:19 PM EDT

[#11]

The gov seems to prefer sandblasting or acid dip followed by either breakage into many fine pieces or high temp inceneration.

Just take it to the range and blast the crap out of it.. but first pull out those 2 super strong magnets and play with em, they are lots of fun.

Posted: 7/28/2001 7:20:03 PM EDT

[#12]

Just use a demagnetizer. My dad has one that when put over a tape - audio or video - will completely arase them. I think he got it at Radio Shack. Quick and simple to use. It should work just fine.

brouhaha

Posted: 7/28/2001 7:23:34 PM EDT

[#13]

I was really gonna be a smart ass on this one but that topic was just WAY too easy [:)]

mike

Posted: 7/28/2001 7:45:05 PM EDT

[#14]

Originally Posted By The Beer Slayer:
I was really gonna be a smart ass on this one but that topic was just WAY too easy [:)}

mike

View Quote

Darnit! I hoped I was the only one that picked up on the subject name. Good eye, Mike [;)]

[brown]Evil Jew~[/brown]

Posted: 7/28/2001 8:24:27 PM EDT

[#15]

put a large pile of thermite over the harddrive (AFTER you blasted them with 5.56mm's that is...) and light it... your harddrive plus a chunk of the ground (so do it on a DRY ground that no one sees or on your property!) will vanish... you can make thermite by mixing alumnium and rust together, you can get both at www.iowapyrosupply.com if you are over 21. Use a sparkler to ignite thermite, even a blowtorch wont ignite thermites... also dont look at the flash because it emits alot of UV rays, and DO NOT LET BURNING THERMITE TOUCH WATER or else it will go kaboom... Thats how the government gets rid of confidential data... they have it on those spy/recon vans incase it gets disabled or captured...

Posted: 7/28/2001 9:30:50 PM EDT

[#16]

how many hard drives are in your new pc? Think about taking the hard drive out of the 486 and using it as extra storage. Never can have enough hard drive space.

Posted: 7/29/2001 7:27:10 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Then take it to the nearest shooting spot and proceed to put a few hundred rounds of 5.56x45

View Quote

[img]http://www.ecis.com/~weasel/temp/Hard%2520Drive%2520Platters.jpg[/img]

Posted: 7/29/2001 10:19:20 AM EDT

[#18]

I dont know if it will work on that version of windows, but go into DOS, type "fdisk" (no quotes) and push enter. It will ask you a bunch of questions, like "This computer has so much space taken up.... blah blah blah, saying yes will deleat it" or "Are you sure you want to deleat this". Just keep answereing the questions, and it will deleat windows and everything else on the computer.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How Do I Blow My Ex-Hard Drive?

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