Destroy Old Hard Drives with a Drill?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I have no idea. What do they do in civilised countries?

Call the police, which in our case are also unarmed. But I do feel we are teetering into dangerous territory, so probably best to go back to destroying drives.

When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

[AZgl1800]

When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

a nice thought, but after 45 to 180 minutes, you begin to wonder??

[Pierre]

I have no idea. What do they do in civilised countries?

Call the police, which in our case are also unarmed.
- - But I do feel we are teetering into dangerous territory, so probably best to go back to destroying drives.

Good Move - - Go Back on Topic



what I've always said, is that for an entire HDD, then It'd consider generally a format,
and then install any new OS & that is enough for most cases.
as it's take an above average computer nerd to be able to reverse that scenario,
in order to access the original data on that drive.

[secureIT]

The normal way:

Wear Protective gloves

1. Disassemble the hard drive.

2. Hit the plates of the hard drive with a hammer until they breaks into thousands of tiny pieces.
You should put the plates in a cloth bag so that the small parts don't fly around all over the place.

3. Dispose the pieces and leftovers in different garbage bags so that they are guaranteed not to be reassembled.

That is actually enough - but there are fearful ones:

For them the very hard way :

Only for poeople that knows about chemistry and acid and how they can protect themselves .......

for the next step wear also safety goggles and respiratory protection.

4. Go outside and fill the pieces in a marmelade glass and let a bucket of battery acid eat away everything from that pieces.
May take some hours .......

5. Dispose the drained pieces and leftovers in sand-filled different garbage bags so that they are guaranteed not to be reassembled.


Unfortunately, you’ll have to deal with the acid afterward. It’s highly toxic, so you need to follow proper disposal.


The unusual way for the fearful ones:

It also works without the use of acid:

Send the fragments to your friends in Japan in several letters and ask them to sink the pieces in the sea near Fukushima.

Believe me, if they were ever caught - there is nothing left but radiation.

[RollyShed]

The normal way:
Wear Protective gloves
1. Disassemble the hard drive.
2. Hit the plates of the hard drive with a hammer until they breaks into thousands of tiny pieces.
You should put the plates in a cloth bag so that the small parts don't fly around all over the place.
3. Dispose the pieces and leftovers in different garbage bags so that they are guaranteed not to be reassembled.

Why not then melt the glass? Or melt the glass before shattering it? Anyone who does a bit of welding could do it for you.

The metal bits go into recycling and are worth their weight as recyclable metal. Remove and keep all screws as they are handy or someone will find them handy.

If really desperate, scrape the gold off too and keep it. Just under $2000 an ounce.

[absque fenestris]

...
1. Disassemble the hard drive.
...

The beautifully highly polished discs can be further used

2. as bird deterrents
3. as reflectors for flash or low voltage lamps

the precision bearings could also be re-used and of course the magnets.

4. If not, 3 to 4 strong scratches over the disc surface ...


your storage data is not that important either (and you have passed on the essential ones for a long time ...)

[151tom]

The normal way:

Wear Protective gloves

1. Disassemble the hard drive.

2. Hit the plates of the hard drive with a hammer until they breaks into thousands of tiny pieces.
You should put the plates in a cloth bag so that the small parts don't fly around all over the place.

3. Dispose the pieces and leftovers in different garbage bags so that they are guaranteed not to be reassembled.

That is actually enough - but there are fearful ones:

For them the very hard way :

Only for poeople that knows about chemistry and acid and how they can protect themselves .......

for the next step wear also safety goggles and respiratory protection.

4. Go outside and fill the pieces in a marmelade glass and let a bucket of battery acid eat away everything from that pieces.
May take some hours .......

5. Dispose the drained pieces and leftovers in sand-filled different garbage bags so that they are guaranteed not to be reassembled.


Unfortunately, you’ll have to deal with the acid afterward. It’s highly toxic, so you need to follow proper disposal.


The unusual way for the fearful ones:

It also works without the use of acid:

Send the fragments to your friends in Japan in several letters and ask them to sink the pieces in the sea near Fukushima.

Believe me, if they were ever caught - there is nothing left but radiation.

Wow a bit extreme wouldn't ya say.

[all41]

If you have never actually seen a hdd in action just remove the upper cover, plug it in and watch it go

It's a beautiful thing to watch--you will see the platters spin up and the heads seeking data faster than your
eyes can follow. You will gain a better understanding of what's going on in there, and be familiar with the
limitations of mechanical hdd's.

You wanted to destroy the data on this drive anyway--might as well gain some insight in the process.

[absque fenestris]

If you have never actually seen a hdd in action just remove the upper cover, plug it in and watch it go

It's a beautiful thing to watch--you will see the platters spin up and the heads seeking data faster than your
eyes can follow. You will gain a better understanding of what's going on in there, and be familiar with the
limitations of mechanical hdd's.

You wanted to destroy the data on this drive anyway--might as well gain some insight in the process.

That's a very good suggestion and reminds me that you could also build a knife grinder out of that thing....

[AndyMH]

If you have never actually seen a hdd in action just remove the upper cover, plug it in and watch it go

And how long does it last, seconds??

[all41]

If you have never actually seen a hdd in action just remove the upper cover, plug it in and watch it go

And how long does it last, seconds??

They run fine. I have demonstrated this many times. --lifetime undetermined
Just do it--it's a learning experience

[rene]

No, generally please don't. A speck of dust is a lot bigger and pointier than 'a sector' and rapid increase of bad sectors are quite the norm in that situation.

[all41]

No, generally please don't. A speck of dust is a lot bigger and pointier than 'a sector' and rapid increase of bad sectors are quite the norm in that situation.

Remember--this is a drive destined for destruction anyway. Yes--best results not expected in a dust storm.

[rene]

Yes, definitely. Just really-really thought that it should given the wording you picked be stressed that generally, no, they won't run all that fine all that long

[all41]

Yes, definitely. Just really-really thought that it should given the wording you picked be stressed that generally, no, they won't run all that fine all that long

I hope you will observe this personally--and share your findings

Thought to make a video of this--but
omg--youtube is loaded with opened hdd videos--they even try different methods to make it quit working--water etc.

[absque fenestris]

It's funny how a vivisection on a rotten hard drive causes concern.

[rene]

I hope you will observe this personally--and share your findings

Yes, and your post reminded me of a semi-recent thread I was in here where I advised poster to indeed open up a drive to, supposedly, unstick his head assembly as that seemed his problem with a failing drive. Unfortunately he never followed up to say how/if that worked out. But I've done it, and also in that thread advised to even if that worked get the important data off as fast as possible and then never trust that drive for anything important ever again.

[all41]

I hope you will observe this personally--and share your findings

Yes, and your post reminded me of a semi-recent thread I was in here where I advised poster to indeed open up a drive to, supposedly, unstick his head assembly as that seemed his problem with a failing drive. Unfortunately he never followed up to say how/if that worked out. But I've done it, and also in that thread advised to even if that worked get the important data off as fast as possible and then never trust that drive for anything important ever again.

Spot on rene

[151tom]

If you have never actually seen a hdd in action just remove the upper cover, plug it in and watch it go

It's a beautiful thing to watch--you will see the platters spin up and the heads seeking data faster than your
eyes can follow. You will gain a better understanding of what's going on in there, and be familiar with the
limitations of mechanical hdd's.

You wanted to destroy the data on this drive anyway--might as well gain some insight in the process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-JJp-oLx58

[Ivy_Pool]

IMG_0731.jpg (20.63 KiB) Viewed 701 times

Paperweight...made with sledge and screwdriver.