How to destroy / disable old hard drives ?

[shawnhu]

I am surprised how heavy the hard drives are for their size . Maybe when my stomach heals from my operation I can give the sledge hammer a workout . I just didn't trust any company that would recycle computers to have any hard drives .

What do you think they do with the computers they recycle?

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[Elmo]

Shows you how tough they can be.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyfzsmoa4gI

[shawnhu]

In killing a hard drive, what would be the best bullet choice? Solid, bonded or bullistic tip?

Probably tungsten core.

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[Elmo]

What do you think they do with the computers they recycle?

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The company I use at work uses a degauser machine that also punches three holes through the drive during the degausing process.  They also sign a legal waiver protecting us against data getting out.

[Larry]

12ga

[Ford]

No one cares about the weird porn!

[Ford]

Seriously though. I leave mine on the side of the house for a few months. Let the rain take care of it.

[nyslowhand]

Ask Hilary...!?! Opps, did I say that....

[Elmo]

Seriously though. I leave mine on the side of the house for a few months. Let the rain take care of it.

Rain isn't going to do much to it. The data is still there.

But most people simply over panic about it. It up to $2000-3000 to recover all data from a broken hard drive. No one is going to drop that kind of money just to see if you MAY have something on that hard drive unless you're a valued target like a CEO, a terrorist leader, or a celebrity.

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Edited March 4, 2016 by Elmo

[shawnhu]

Seriously though. I leave mine on the side of the house for a few months. Let the rain take care of it.

They dig HD's from the ocean that's severely corroded and still able to recover nearly 100% of the data.

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[GreeneHunter]

Bucket of water

[grampy]

I would think a lot of heat,like a bon fire, would melt the interior plastic boards and the solder connecting the circuits. Or,   ?

[Steuben Jerry]

I dangle them on a string over the bullseye at 100yds and put as many rounds through it as I can. Might as well have fun doing it!

[moog5050]

Break it up and toss the pieces out in 2 or more places (like home and work), or burn it to a crisp.

[fasteddie]

Ask Hilary...!?! Opps, did I say that....

 

Good idea ..... maybe all I need to do to erase any data is to rub a chalk board eraser on it .   

 

That's what Hillary would probably do . 

[Curmudgeon]

Welding equipment!

[mbucks27]

Just open them up with a screwdriver and sctach up the disks that are inside. Don't try to break them though because they will shatter

[Elmo]

I put it in a small metal box, pour molten steel into it. Close up the box. Then I buy a portable hole and a rocket from Acme Inc. Make sure you get from Wile-E and not Bugs. Drop box into the hole. Peal the hole from the floor, fold it up and lock it into a second metal box. Attach this box to the rocket. Shoot the rocket towards Mars. Marvin the Martian will then blast the rocket into smithereens with his laser.

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Edited March 4, 2016 by Elmo

[ants]

I put it in a small metal box, pour molten steel into it. Close up the box. Then I buy a portable hole and a rocket from Acme Inc. Make sure you get from Wile-E and not Bugs. Drop box into the hole. Peal the hole from the floor, fold it up and lock it into a second metal box. Attach this box to the rocket. Shoot the rocket towards Mars. Marvin the Martian will then blast the rocket into smithereens with his laser.

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Your method doesn't have any ropes and pulleys involved..It will never work.

[shawnhu]

I would think a lot of heat,like a bon fire, would melt the interior plastic boards and the solder connecting the circuits. Or, ?

The data is not stored in the circuit boards or solder joints.

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[Five Seasons]

download a free program called cc cleaner. it's great for cleaning up junk on your computer, deleting cookies and what not. There's also an option to write quick or up to 2 passes over your free space. Basically jibberish. After that a few bullets or a fire if you're really that concerned. I acutally run the overwrite a few times a year anyhow. btw, the overright is not recommended for SSD drives.

[Black Bellamy]

Sledge hammer is pretty much the only way to go.  You need to fragment the plate.   Then you need to sprinkle the fragments into several different garbage loads.

 

• Heat will warp it, you can still get the data off.
• Water, salt water, battery acid, whatever liquid, probably won't destroy the entire plate.
• Drilling holes will only destroy the sectors with holes, you can still get the data off from the undamaged portions,
• And unless you have an extremely strong neodymium magnet, forget magnetism.  You can never be 100% sure that way.
• Even with a DOD wipe, you're still just conforming to a standard, never be 100% sure that someone won't reverse the process or something will be missed.

 

Again, unless you see the hard drive plate splinter into a hundred pieces in front of your eyes, you will never have 100% confidence.

 

If you don't feel like swinging a sledgehammer, this is an acceptable substitute:

 

Edited March 4, 2016 by Black Bellamy

[shawnhu]

Sledge hammer is pretty much the only way to go. You need to fragment the plate. Then you need to sprinkle the fragments into several different garbage loads.

• Heat will warp it, you can still get the data off.
• Water, salt water, battery acid, whatever liquid, probably won't destroy the entire plate.
• Drilling holes will only destroy the sectors with holes, you can still get the data off from the undamaged portions,
• And unless you have an extremely strong neodymium magnet, forget magnetism. You can never be 100% sure that way.
• Even with a DOD wipe, you're still just conforming to a standard, never be 100% sure that someone won't reverse the process or something will be missed.

Again, unless you see the hard drive plate splinter into a hundred pieces in front of your eyes, you will never have 100% confidence.

If you don't feel like swinging a sledgehammer, this is an acceptable substitute:

You sound like you've done is before.

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[Elmo]

Don't forget the RAM. There's data there too.

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[jjb4900]

Your method doesn't have any ropes and pulleys involved..It will never work.

or an anvil....gotta have the anvil.