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How To destroy hard drive 1

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Skittle

ISP
Sep 10, 2002
1,528
US
I have two hard drives that will no longer boot up. They have physical problems. I want to destroy them so that a technical expert cannot replace the faulty parts and get to confidential data.

What is the best way to dispose of them?

Smash them with a hammer?
Set Fire to them?



Dazed and confused
 
Get creative. If you want to open it up, and see what it looks like inside, go ahead. Or the hammer generally works if you damage the platters in doing it.

Or if you're into firearms, I read that's how the military disposes of theirs when they want to destroy hard drives. Take it out to the firing range, set it upright, and start firing rounds into it.

Or if you got access to a very strong electromagnet (my guess something strong enough to pick up that hammer), run it around the drives for about a minute.

I'm not sure fire will help, though.
 
Skittle
Simplist.
Knock a 4inch nail through the platter section of the casing.
Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.
 
I use a Bulk tape eraser I bought at radio shack.


This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.


 
Which bit is the 'platter'?

I can't get the dan thing open which was my first solution.
The screws are to small and shallow for any precision screwdriver I can find.


Dazed and confused
 
Thanks chaps.

Off to buy some nails.

Dazed and confused
 
I've heard that a single nail through a platter or even a gun shot does NOT stop dedicated forensic experts from recovering data off the rest of the non-damaged sections of the platters. Now, these people would not be your average dumpster divers, but dedicated forensic techs as found in police departments, FBI etc.

The only sure fire way to prevent data recovery (if you're really paranoid), would be to shred the entire drive or melt it or (more practical) take a dremel or sander and grind the upper and lower surfaces of all the platters so the the media is physically damaged beyond reading.
 
What goom says is true, a single nail or bullet won't do it. The platter needs to be rendered unrecognizable if you don't want any data off of it.
 
Hmmmm.

Looks like I will have to keep it forever......

Unless I can find somebody with a blowtorch.


Dazed and confused
 
OK, now let's get serious, in order of degrees of safety:

1. A deep body of saltwater, if available, would provide a safe, corrosive resting place.
2. Drill out the screws (they are probably aluminum Torx screws, with one hidden behind a label) and once opened, shatter the platters into teeny tiny pieces and distribute them to various locations. Platters are very brittle and easy to shatter with a common hammer.
3. Drill out the screws, remove the platters from the spindle, then run both sides of each platter across a common grinder wheel, then smash them into itty bitty pieces and distribute.

I don't care if you're Al Qaeda, ain't nobody getting nuthin' off those drives.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me
 
I disagree with 1 and 2

1 - salt water may be corrosive, but not to Aluminum drive platters!!! AL doesn't rust.

2 - laptop hard drive platters are brittle and I have shattered them with a hammer and screwdriver, but desktop hard drive platters are pretty tough. A sledge hammer didn't even shatter them with a screwdriver or directly.

Finally - let's not get too paranoid!!!!

 
Use utility from the manufacturer to write zeros to the entire drive. This makes it really hard to get the date off the drive.

Place under tank and go back and forth several times.

Or take the drive apart and then:
Get good fire going and superheat the platters then bend them and hammer them good or flatten them out and make some nice cake pans. Heating up the metal with a blow torch and bending it all up should destroy any data once you hammer it out.

Use an arch welder on it if you have one.

Sand down the surface of the disk.

Put the disk in a vat of Acid and etch the surface.

Metal cutoff saw blade and cut it up into small pieces.

Next get one of those big commercial grade magnets that it takes 2 men and a boy to remove.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.
 
Thermite burns at 4,000 degrees but may need another chimical compound to actually ignite it. I have seen some demonstrations of its use on the G4TV site a time or two. Very dangerous stuff. Dont want to do this inside.

HCL Muratic acid? Can be used to etch or prepare metal or Eat Hard Drives. Normally sold in about 37% strength in Hardware stoers for use in cleaning Stone or masonary. In pure form can eat threough floors and metal. Use with extreme caution. Can cause poisonous gas. May bubble up and expand when it gets started. Normally stored in Glass Containers.

On a side note this acid can eat aluminum foil. I think we did an experiment with this stuff in diluted form and when it eats the aluminum it realeases other chemicals. I think I saw a kind of bomb where you place the stuff in a container and put in the aluminum foil and then close it up and it expands and explodes.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.
 
Its a hard drive thatmay have my personal financial details on so I want it to be fairly secure.

Normally I'd use software to properly wipe it but as its dead I cannot.

I think I will ue the nails and hammer or drill to make it reasonably safe beore disposing off.



Dazed and confused
 
Any kind of strong magnet run over the platter will erace it.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.


 
Why is destruction so much fun???

My favorite solution:

ceh4702 said:
Place under tank and go back and forth several times.

[smile][smile][smile]

I think you get the idea...getting the drives open and discombobulating the platters any way possible will do the trick. Not sure about them not being brittle, but the 3GB hard drive I destroyed many years ago seemed to break right up...this could have been when the platters were made of glass. Good luck and wear safety glasses!

One other option...I always keep all my hard drives, good or bad, labeled, stacked & boxed in my "odds & sods" closet. In the event of disaster you may be glad you kept them.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me
 
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